The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom
by Dusk Ado
Summary: After hundreds of years, the practice of Alchemy has nearly faded from the world. The Wise One has returned to teach the art to its chosen successor. Naruto with elements of Golden Sun
1. Prologue: The Wise One

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

The age of Alchemy has passed, and the age of Ninja is now, but the Wise One is unwilling to let his power fade away. Who will be his legacy?

Prologue

The Wise One

* * *

_In darkness, there is death_ The Wise One thought sadly as the village below him burst into flames.

Without warning, this unnamed village had become the target of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's rage. What few civilians with combat experience had already been obliterated by the fury of the Ruler of the Bijuu.

Men, women and children had fled and died by the hundreds. Unable to save their lives, lest Kyuubi's fury fall upon him, the Wise One could only observe with despair.

_The village might have contained my legacy had they survived._

After what felt like days, the enraged demon left the smoldering wreckage behind, and the Wise One finally approached. Gently floating through the tattered and charred remains, he could find no trace of life…no, there was one source left. Soaring through the streets, the Wise One stopped over a hotel that had been blasted apart.

_There!_ The Wise One glowed white with power, and the upper layers of the wreckage scattered. Under two crossbeams lay the shattered form of a teenage girl. Blood had been splashed across her face and body from the horrific wounds in her legs and abdomen. Her eyes were wide and glassy.

Had anyone else come across her, the diagnosis would have been "dead." But, barely there, not a heartbeat, not breathing, not even thoughts, a will flickered within her. The will to survive, the will to live, and the despair of death looming ever closer.

Again the Wise One gathered his power and spoke in a psychic voice that boomed with power.

**"Pure Ply…"** A bright light shone about her, as the Wise One healed the girl's body. Even a squad of ninja would never even consider trying, but the Wise One had found this unshakable will…the will that he must preserve…

**"Girl…"** The Wise One spoke, **"Though you may object, you wish to survive. Your will is the will of someone who I once watched over. As such, I dub you my Legacy. The Legacy of the Golden Sun."**

His body shimmered and dissolved into yellow, blue, purple, and red lights. More than half began to scatter into the forest and air, and the remaining portion coalesced into one sphere of white light that sank itself into the girl's body.

**"I will sleep…"** The Wise One said, **"…until the right time…"**

* * *

A.N. For God's sake, I've been writing several fanfics for a while and I've either gotten writer's block, or discarded the story for one or more of the below reasons:

The story got too far off track that I killed it

I rethought it and didn't like the story

The characters that I made are so Mary Sue-ish that I just HAD to kill them

End Reasons

I'm trying very hard to write a good story that doesn't have people rolling their eyes while they read it. So far, I've gotten the first eight chapters mapped out, and going under serious revision. Posts will be very slow, and during the summer; inconsistent. So, if you picked this fic because you thought it was interesting, or because you've read some of my others, thank you for reading and please feel free to tell me if I'm getting better or worse at this.

Ja ne

~Dusk Ado~


	2. Chapter 1: The Trade

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

Note: obviously I don't own anything or anyone that appears in Naruto's universe, nor do I own any characters, summons, or elementals from the Golden Sun universe. Seeing as this is a fanfiction and the meaning of that should be clear, I'm not writing further disclaimers like this.

Chapter 1

The Trade

* * *

_I feel as though this silence could last forever._

So thought Tensa Maru as she opened her eyes to the morning's light. She yawned and streached before standing and lightly jumping off the tree branch she had slept in. Looking about, she sighed in content.

_Here is where I truly belong_. She thought as she lithely darted about the forest, gathering some berries here and some roots or herbs there.

Now, as the golden light pierced the forest canopy, the birds came alive, filling the air with hundreds of unique songs. Maru relished in the sound, smiling as she came across some wild honeysuckle.

A rustling in the trees caused Maru to turn, eyes bright with excitement. Her eyes widened in shock.

Standing upon a low branch of a pine tree was the most peculiar bird Maru had ever seen in her life. With feathers so thin that they could have been hairs and a egg-shaped head that poked around curiously at every little thing, it looked more like a fairy than a bird.

"Hello there little one" Maru said, reaching out her hand slowly. Her fingers lightly brushed the bird's feathers when it squeaked loudly and jumped away faster than anything Maru had ever seen in her life.

She frowned, "Oh well, I hope I'll see you again…"

Her frown disappeared as she continued her light walk through the forest, occasionally popping one of the herbs into her mouth. _A little sour for my taste…_

A light peeping distracted Maru, and she turned to see the same bird as before. It hopped up to her, much more eagerly than before.

"Hi!" She smiled, "You're back again?" The creature warbled as Maru crouched down. To her shock, it jumped up into her hands and prodded them.

Immediately, purple light flashed in front of Maru's vision, before settling like a film over her eyes. Looking about in surprise, Maru saw that everything living in the area emitted an amount of purple light, in unique varieties. Her gaze returned to the little thing in her hands.

Maru cocked her head in curiosity as she saw that the bird-like creature was a maelstrom of purple. Unlike the other beings around her, the bird's glow shifted and rippled; brighter and more powerful than any other source in her visual range.

Peep…

Maru gasped lightly as the bird dissolved into a haze of bright purple energy before soaking directly into her hands. A sudden feeling of being watched washed over the girl. She looked around, but nobody else was there.

"**Ah, for a year I have slept, and now the time has come to awaken"**

Maru screamed as a giant floating boulder with one eye appeared before her.

"Who are you?" Maru asked once her heart had started again.

The boulder hummed, **"I am the Wise One, the last living Alchemist. I have spent the last 972 years searching for one to continue the art without success. Then I found you; Maru, and I will teach you in these great arts…if you wish."**

"Of course!" Maru smiled, "I'd love to learn Alchemy!"

The Wise One hesitated and Maru's smile faltered.

"What? What's wrong?"

"**The power of Alchemy cannot be entirely taught to a normal human. You only have one affinity, and there are four powers that you must learn."**

"**Terra: the power of Venus. With a Venus affinity you can manipulate plant growth and shift the very earth you stand on. Though the offensive power of Terra is great, its defense is nothing to sneer at either. Massive boulders and vines used to block attacks are among the most powerful defenses of Alchemy. Overall, Venus is the most adaptable of all the elements."**

"**Felgra: the power of Mars. Great flames burn through the Adepts of Mars, giving them the greatest offensive powers of all Adepts. Fire and explosive powers await those who pursue Mars."**

"**Adurna: the power of Mercury. Healing and restoration are the primary focuses of the art. By sacrificing the offensive capabilities of the other elements, Mercury Adepts become the hardest to defeat due to their power to survive."**

"**Indora: the power of Jupiter. Raging storms and howling winds are at the beck and call of those who master Indora. The way of Jupiter is only for those who forgo all defense and focus on the total destruction of the enemy."**

"**Most humans can only hope to ever master one of the styles, but a few lucky ones learn a second. You, if you become the new teacher of Alchemy, must master all four."**

Maru stood there unfazed, "Okay, you said I have to do something that's apparently impossible. How am I supposed to do that?"

The Wise One hummed.

"**You must…open your mind and your eyes. I will help."**

Maru stared in surprise as the Wise One faded away. After a moment information poured into her mind, crashing through the boundries of humanity. Names and images strobed through her eyes.

**Isaac…Felix…Lighthouse…Flare Storm…Pyroclasm…Oddessy…Hail Prism…Pure Ply…Potent Cure…Spark Plasma…Flint…Forge…Gust…Fizz…**

Maru clutched her head as the information poured into her like a waterfall into a bottomless pool. Even when she felt that this would be the end, that she could take no more, another torrent of information engulfed her.

The sun slowly trekked across the sky while Maru stood rigid, processing the information while her eyes burned from a soft blue to silver. Morning passed, then noon, and dusk arrived when Maru finally collapsed from the strain of the day.

* * *

Elsewhere, a young girl screamed in terror as her father raised a mattock to stike her down.

Haku, aged thirteen, cried as she thought, so this is the end…

The entire house exploded in a shower of ice…

* * *

Maru woke to the pitter patter of rain falling all around her. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Maru stumbled to the forest creek to bathe. She looked into the water and "eep!"ed in surprise.

Catching a glimpse of her reflection, Maru noticed that her skin had paled and her eyes had changed. They were silver, with six perfect circles that started at the edge of her eyes and progressively shrunk as they neared her pupil.

A large leaf discharged its cargo of water onto Maru's head, causing her to sneeze in surprise. The resulting gust left her frigid, but dry.

**"Squall…the first of the Djinn that has found you. By calling upon his power, you can control the latent Indora around you."**

"Wise One?" Maru asked, "Squall…where is he?"

As soon as she spoke the djinn's name, Squall materialized in a flash of purple light. Squeaking excitedly, Squall nuzzled Maru's leg.

"Aw!" Maru squealed, "You're so cute!"

A light growling distracted both of them. A blue creature, Maru assumed a djinn, had come across them and obviously felt threatened. Maru stiffened, it could be very dangerous if her new memories were anything to judge by.

Or not. Squall gave a happy squeak and glided over to the other djinn, who peeped and began purring lightly. Maru hesitantly approached when the djinn launched itself into her arms. Blue light bloomed from every living thing in Maru's eyes, resonating with the purple.

"**Fizz, the first of the healing Djinn of Mercury" **The Wise One rumbled, **"With both at your side, your skills will begin to shape"**

Both djinn dissolved into orbs of light and phased into Maru's skin. Two surges of information brought her to her knees as the knowledge of the djinn augmented her own.

Looking to the north, Maru noticed a faint blue glow on the horizon.

"It's time to go…"

* * *

Haku stumbled along the forest path, ragged and hungry.

Three days.

Three days since her father tried to kill her. Three days since she'd inadvertently destroyed her family's house and everyone in it, save herself. Three days she'd been on the road, trying to flee the pursuit that no doubt followed.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, scraaape-thud.

She couldn't go any farther.

_Nothing left to do but die…_

* * *

The rain began to fall again, saturating the ground and drenching the trees. Maru leaped through the forest, nimble as a gazelle, a slight emission of Squall's energy repelling the water from her body.

"**Remember,"** the Wise One instructed, **"In order to save her, you must use Fizz's power since you've not yet mastered any of your own."**

"Yes," Maru said, as the trees parted and the path was revealed.

Maru immediately noticed the girl in trouble and knelt down beside her. She held out her hands, concentrated, and cried out, "Fizz!"

The Mercury Djinn coalesced out of the rainwater and peeped. Noticing Haku, Fizz conjured a haze of blue energy that floated above the prone girl and sank into her body. After a few minutes Haku opened her eyes.

"Where…am I?"

"You're on an obscure trail in the forest" Maru answered, causing Haku to jump nearly two feet into the air. "I'm Maru, nice to meet you!" She smiled, holding out her hand.

Haku hesitantly shook it. "Haku…"

"Well Haku, what were you doing sleeping in the forest alone?" Maru wondered

Haku's face fell, "I…"

"Hey, I'm okay if you don't want to talk about it," Maru smiled softly, "Do you need help?"

Haku nodded.

"Do you live nearby?"

Haku shook her head.

"Do you want me to help you home?"

Another shake of the head.

"Do you want to go home?"

Another shake.

"Do you have a home to go home to?"

Another shake.

"Would you like to come with me?"

Haku's face broke into a hesitant smile and she nodded.

"Okay then, let's go" Maru helped Haku to her feet.

As they prepared to go, Fizz flashed and returned to Maru, who shielded her eyes. Haku was a nova of blue, far stronger than anything Maru had ever seen.

"Wow," She said excitedly, "You've got a really strong Mercury alignment"

Haku stared at her quizzically as they walked, "What's that?"

"It means that you can easily use water and ice."

Haku stiffened. "I…"

"It doesn't matter to me!" Maru smiled again, "I wouldn't care if you had two heads and wings. I'm just glad to make a friend."

Haku sighed, "Thank you Maru-sama."

Maru laughed, "No –sama, just Maru. I'm just a kid like you!"

* * *

"So… Where are we going?" Haku asked, "Do you live nearby?"

"Not permanently" Maru said offhandedly, "I move around a lot. I usually sleep in one particular tree for a week, and then find another one a few miles away."

Haku nodded. "I thank you; I'll try not to be a burden."

A leaf fluttered down and landed on Haku's head…and froze solid. Maru gasped.

"Wow! You just froze that leaf without even trying, you're amazing. Your Mercury affinity must be really powerful."

Haku hung her head in shame, "I'm sorry…" She looked up tearfully, "I'll go now."

Maru snatched her hand before she could take one step.

"Oh no you don't" Maru chirped, "I've got some oddities of my own; we're two of a kind!"

Haku stared into Maru's eyes and gaped when she saw her now silver and ringed eyes.

"So you see," Maru continued, "You've got nothing to be ashamed of!"

Haku smiled through her tears. "I guess not…"

"So," Maru looked around expectantly, "What shall we do first?"

* * *

Chapter End

I tried a Naruto fic before called "Those Cast Aside" which turned out to be an enormous, absolutely, giantly, EPIC FAIL! That was then; I'm trying something different now.

I would have said 1000 years for the Wise One's search, but it was too cliche.

So…Anyone got any questions, concerns, complaints? I'm all ears.


	3. Chapter 2: The Mist

A.N. I'm back with chapter 2, and I hope it's good enough. Chapter one and the prologue were just to set the story up, it really starts up now.

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

Chapter 2

The Mist

* * *

Two shadows flashed through the woods, dancing around each other. Behind them, a third shadow resolutely pursued. The two in front screamed to each other as they leaped.

"Why in Kami's name is that guy still chasing us?!" Maru screamed hysterically.

"Trust me: you don't want to find out!" Haku shouted back, "I think we should stop him in the clearing ahead!"

"Right!"

As their foe landed in the clearing facing them, Haku's mind flashed through a few strategies.

For the last two years, Maru and Haku had trained themselves into the ground learning Psynergy from the Wise One. While the skill came easily to Maru, Haku struggled until she encountered a Djinn of her own. Sleet, the Mercury Djinn, had helped Haku to not only learn the basic spells, but also how to use some of the more advanced ice-based spells. Now, they'd be put to the test.

"Alright girlies, the game's up!" The unknown man shouted, "I've got you now!"

"Who are you and what do you want?" Maru asked calmly.

"I'm only known as Goris" he said, pounding his chest proudly, "As for what I want…" His eyes glazed slightly and he drooled slightly. Both girls shivered slightly.

"Haku-chan, I feel violated" Maru whined.

"Oh Kami…" Haku groaned, "Goris-san, you are in serious trouble."

Goris sneered as both girls took unknown battle stances, with one open hand in front for defense and the other in a half-ram seal while their legs were slightly bent.

"Oh feisty, eh? I'm gonna enjoy this!" He leaped forward.

Only to find Haku landing a powerful punch to his gut while Maru appeared behind him, already whirling in a kick. Goris ducked hurriedly, only to get a knee in the forehead from Haku.

"Argh!" He gritted his teeth in pain and formed hand seals. Maru sighed and landed in front of Haku.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" A whirlpool of water formed in front of the man and launched itself at Maru.

"Adurna," Maru hissed, holding out her hand as the wave crashed down upon them.

Goris laughed, "Nice try girlie, but there's no way to stop that jutsu! I'll have my way with you once you're totally waterlogged!" He broke down into perverted giggles.

He looked eagerly at the waterfall, waiting for it to end, only to gape as a portion of the water simply bifurcated around the girls. They emerged unharmed, Maru with a hand held forward to deflect the water. Maru and Haku both glared at the shocked Goris.

Twin flashes of blue lit up the girls.

"Sleet!"

"Prism!"

Goris gaped as a spray of ice hit him head on and froze him in place. There was nothing he could do to stop the following block of super cooled water that struck him and covered him in more ice. He flared his chakra, breaking the ice away and barely ducked in time to avoid Maru's wheel kick.

"Hail Prism!" Haku shouted, creating three spheres of ice-water. All three impacted around Goris, freezing him again. "Finish him, Maru-chan!"

"Blue Bolt!" Maru shouted, and a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, severely shocking Goris. His body crumbled into clay. Maru's eyes widened and she whirled as Haku screamed.

Goris had pinned Haku to the ground by her wrists and elbows with earthen manacles. Before Maru could move to save Haku, a foot crashed into her face. Stars winked before her eyes.

"Nee-chan!" Haku wailed as Goris proceeded to mercilessly beat Maru into the ground. She heard several loud cracks and Maru lost consciousness shortly after.

"Now…" Goris smirked as he turned back to Haku. "Now you're all mine!"

Haku struggled in a futile effort to escape. Goris laughed and closed his hand, causing a band of earth to encircle Haku's stomach and prevent her from struggling. Tears poured from Haku's eyes as Goris straddled her, leering. He pulled out a kunai and began lightly dragging it down her chest, slicing through her shirt. His laughter rose as he discarded the torn garment, and he was about to "begin his fun" when a sinister voice rang out.

"Brain, Heart, Spine, Jugular, Lungs, Larynx, Subclavian Artery, Liver… Now which would you like to die by, worthless scum?"

Goris jumped to his feet, looking around wildly until a kunai buried itself to the ring in his skull. He passed from life without knowing what happened.

"Those who would rape a girl for their own pleasure…they are the worst kind of garbage." Haku turned her head and gasped when she saw her savior. The man wore a headband diagonally on his head and rested one hand on a huge zanbato that he had strapped to his back. His lower face was covered with wound tape, and his eyes were colder than the ice from her and Maru's prism. Remembering her position, Haku struggled to cover her exposed chest, only for the earth to hold her in place. Her face flamed up in a brilliant shade of red.

The man walked up to Haku and, without visible effort, broke off her restraints. The whole time he did so, the man never once looked at her chest, something that Haku was grateful for.

"Here," The man handed Haku her discarded shirt and some tape. "Bind up your…well, bind yourself up until we can fix your shirt." Haku flushed and did so. As she finished wrapping the bindings, she saw a flash of blue light, and Maru got to her feet, injuries healed thanks to Fizz.

"Thank you, Shinobi-san, for saving us." Maru smiled, "My name is Tensa Maru, and this is my adopted sister, Haku."

"Momochi Zabuza" the man replied. "You, Haku" The girl in question jumped.

"H-Hai?"

"You conjured that ice from the water. I have an interest in your bloodline power. I'm offering to train you to use your power better."

"Really? Would you train my nee-chan too?"

"Does she have the same bloodline ability as you?"

"N-no" Haku's face fell.

"Then there's no reason for me to consider training…" the words died is Zabuza's mouth as he casually looked over to Maru. Her eyes burned with anger and purple lightning sparked around her. "I take it back" Zabuza amended, "I'll train you both."

Maru allowed Squall's power to fade.

"Thank you Zabuza-sama. We won't disappoint you."

"You'd better not" the swordsman growled.

* * *

One Year of Hell Later

* * *

"Keep at it!" Zabuza called as he watched his two protégés spar.

Maru's eyes flicked around rapidly as Haku darted through the trees, sending a rain of ice senbon down at her. She leaped into the air at the last second and thrust her hand forward.

"Flash Bolt!" A series of pale purple lightning strands flashed from the sky, each hitting the point that Haku had just occupied. Said girl snarled lightly as she sent another rain of ice senbon, but this time she followed it up with some Psynergy.

"Hail Prism!"

"Darn!" Maru growled. She whirled, conjuring up water. "Glacier!"

The water froze in a dome a second before the prism hit. The dome held for the first three impacts, but Haku had added a fourth, which shattered the dome.

Haku appeared in front of Maru, smiling. "Makyou Hyoushou!"

"Yep, this is not good" Maru frowned as Haku created a dome of ice panels around her and stepped into one. An instant later, Maru was forced to use all of her agility to dodge the multi-directional assault of senbon.

Zabuza raised his eyebrow area appreciatively; Maru was doing much better than normal at dodging the needles. At this rate, both of them would be at Jounin level by the end of the year.

_I really should start bringing them on missions_ Zabuza mused, _Why the hell not?_

"Halt!" He commanded, and laughed as Haku froze halfway out of a mirror and Maru had one of her hands held out to cast. The both dashed over to Zabuza and knelt.

"What are your orders, Zabuza-sama?"

"We're going to take a mission. All of us."

Both of the girls' eyes widened. Haku smiled while Maru squirmed a little.

"Pack up and be ready to go in one hour. As of forty-five minutes, you are late."

Zabuza smirked as his students vanished.

* * *

Five minutes later Maru and Haku were heading back to the clearing, when Maru got a funny feeling in her gut. She stopped and turned. Sure enough, there was a small creature sitting there, head cocked and peeping.

"Another one?" Maru bent down and held out her hand to the Djinn, who happily jumped onto her head instead. Yellow light joined the purple and blue along with another flood of information.

"Mercury, Jupiter, and now Venus" Maru mused in unison with the Wise One, "Only Mars remains."

"Maru-nee-chan, let's go!" Haku called impatiently.

"Right!" Maru snapped back to reality and leaped off after Haku.

* * *

Konoha Gates

* * *

The two Chunin on guard nearly had heart attacks when a trio of people just appeared out of NOWHERE right in front of them.

"Halt!" One said boredly, "State your names and reason…for…visiting?" By the end of his speech he had looked up and noticed exactly who he was talking to.

"*gulp* Momochi Zabuza?"

"Oh? You've heard of me? Heh, saves the introductions. Anyway, my…associates and I are here to pick up a mission from the Hokage. Nothing else."

The Chunin just gaped at him.

"Is there a problem?" Haku asked, "It isn't that unusual for displaced ninja to contract missions from other villages."

"But-"

"Would you have a problem if Haku-nee-chan and I entered the village to get the mission? That way you could make sure that Zabuza-sama doesn't cause any trouble." Maru asked rather breathlessly.

The Chunin gulped and blushed. "O-of course not, go right ahead."

"Thanks!" Maru chirped, "Come on nee-chan!"

Haku nodded and Zabuza smirked, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do…aside from leaving people alive."

But the two girls were already gone.

"Do me proud…" Zabuza sighed before turning to the nervous Chunin with a gleam in his eye. "Now then…"

* * *

Maru felt her eye twitching as she and Haku threaded their way through the crowds of civilians. Where was the village security? Why would they let two enemy ninja just waltz into the village with no escort? She wasn't oblivious to the stares of some of the more chauvinistic civilians either; she just tried to ignore them.

That is, until one of them tried to grope her while passing by. He found himself collapsing limply, with a slight pooling of water the only evidence of Haku's invisible attack.

They were given a wider berth after that.

Finally, they reached the Hokage tower.

"May I help you two young ladies?" The secretary asked as the two casually walked in.

"Yes please," Haku smiled, "My nee-chan and I are here to pick up a mission for our sensei. We're rather new here, so we needed to know where to go."

The secretary pushed a button, "Hokage-sama, you have two visitors, if you are free."

An old, kindly voice rang through the intercom. "Yes, of course, please send them in!"

The secretary nodded, "You may go"

* * *

_Paperwork is the spawn of the devil!_ So thought Sarutobi Hiruzen as he signed yet another document.

The two guests he'd been told of would prove a wonderful break from the monotony.

A knock came at the door.

"Come in!" Sarutobi called gladly.

Maru and Haku nervously walked into the office. The old man smiled kindly.

"What can I do for you two fine young ladies?"

"Um-well, you see Hokage-sama; um…my nee-chan and I would like to get a mission assignment for our sensei."

"Oh?" Sarutobi raised an eyebrow "Why could your sensei not come himself?"

"He was…detained at the gate." Maru said cautiously.

"Well, who is your sensei? Would I be able to contact him?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Maru pulled out a medium sized scroll. "We could summon him if you like."

"Please do." Sarutobi said, while secretly pressing the button on his desk for his personal ANBU squad to stand at the ready.

Maru spread the scroll on the ground and whispered, "Summoning, Momochi Zabuza."

Sarutobi's eyes widened in shock as the feared Kiri jounin appeared in his office a moment later. Zabuza looked around for a moment and sighed.

"Maru-chan, when you decide to summon me, could you try to make sure we're _not_ effectively portraying an assassination attempt?" He unsheathed his zanbato – Sarutobi pushed the button again – and placed it on the ground before sliding it away from himself and raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. A half-dozen ANBU appeared around him. "Okay, okay, I'm not armed to the teeth here; I'm just trying to get a mission for myself and my apprentices."

"Take them away!" One of the ANBU commanded.

"NO!" Sarutobi shouted. "If they wish for a mission, and they mean no harm, I see no problem with giving them one. Ursa, release the girl!" For one of the ANBU had roughly grabbed Haku.

A moment later, he gave a shout of alarm and pain as his hands were frozen solid.

"What the fuck?!" He shouted in a rage, "I'll kill you!" As he drew his sword killing intent flooded the room. He froze as Zabuza lifted his hand and the zanbato simply appeared.

"Get out of my goddamn sight!" Zabuza roared, "You attack my students, you challenge me!"

"Momochi-san, I must ask you to cease and desist!" Sarutobi commanded. "If you and your team would please return tomorrow, I will have your mission ready. Do you have a request as to the rank?"

"A-Rank would be preferred Hokage-sama" Zabuza requested. "Also, if not too much trouble; where could my students and I find a place to stay for the night?"

"Well," Sarutobi got a thoughtful look in his eye, "There is this one hotel on Japa Mala Road…"

* * *

"A civilian district?" Zabuza snarled as the three travelling ninja leaped across the village's rooftops.

"Why not?" Maru asked hopefully, "At least we get to stay somewhere thanks to the old man."

"Even so-" Zabuza cut himself off as they arrived at the described hotel and walked in.

"May I help you Mr…." The manager of the hotel trailed off as he connected Zabuza's face to the face in his old bingo book.

"Momochi, Momochi Zabuza" The ex-Kiri-nin said. He handed the note from the Hokage to the manager. "Hokage-sama sent us to find room and board here"

"What?!" The manager shouted, "Does he think I run a charity case here? I've got a business to run!"

The zanbato appeared in Zabuza's hand as he snarled, "I never said we were given free rein to stay here! Hokage-sama said you'd probably have no qualms about assigning us to room 672, something about the whole floor being vacant except for one room."

The manager gaped, "You want…that room? But it's right next to-"

"The room belonging to Uzumaki Naruto, we know." Maru interjected, "In fact, that is why Hokage-dono assigned us to that room. Now if you don't mind…" A light pressure started weighing down on the air.

"O-of course not" the manager stuttered, "Right t-this way."

"Maru-nee-chan" Haku asked, "What was that? You did something, but it wasn't killing intent."

"Air pressure change" Zabuza interrupted, "She messed with the content of the air, making it heavier. That technique can actually be more effective than Killing Intent because you can't force-dispel it. Good idea kid."

"Thank you Zabuza-sama" Maru smiled as the three ninja finally arrived at the sixth floor.

"Your room is down the hall, to the right, and then the fourth door on the left." The manager said, "If you don't mind, I'll take my leave." He left a second later.

The three ninja walked down the hall, turned, and saw five civilians in the process of breaking down the door to room 671. One of the men there was spraying the words "DEMON SCUM" onto the wall with purple paint. Once the door gave way, they rushed in and Maru's heart clenched when she heard a scream of terror.

"Hey! The demon's here! Time to finish what the Fourth Hokage started!"

Maru felt her eyes burn for a moment before she lost control.

* * *

Zabuza could only watch openmouthed as Maru clapped her hands together and let out a scream of fury. Purple lightning crackled over her body and her long hair stood up on end. It would have been funny if the situation hadn't been so serious.

"SQUALL!" She shrieked, almost teleporting to the door and leaping in. Screams of terror and pain followed, along with the crack of thunder and Maru's enraged snarls. Then one of the civilians went flying out of the destroyed doorway. Or rather, his charred torso and left arm; as the rest of him has been totally burned away.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!! SHINE PLASMA!" A trio of cannon shots, and blinding light poured from the door, along with the remains of another immolated civilian.

"Come on!" Zabuza shouted, unsheathing his sword again, "We've got to get in there!"

Both gasped when they saw the results of Maru's rage.

The entire room had been obliterated, only the walls were left intact. Blood spattered the room and among the wreckage Zabuza could discern the mangled heaps that were the other three civilians. Maru crouched in the middle of the room, body wracking with sobs, and in the corner lay a small blond child who stared at Maru in absolute shock.

"Nee-chan!" Haku ran to Maru and began whispering words of comfort while Zabuza approached the other kid. When he got within ten feet, the child curled up into a ball and moaned, "Don't hurt me."

Zabuza paused and retreated, sheathing his blade.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Zabuza said. Naruto nodded. "Get up. We're going to see the Hokage."

* * *

Chapter 2 END

A.N. And the first enraged session for Maru strikes.


	4. Chapter 3: The Academy

A.N. So far my ideas for pairings are:

Anko-Zabuza

Ino-Naruto

Haku-Naruto

Also, Zabuza may seem OOC, but really; did we get to see all that much of him in the Manga or anime?

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

Chapter 3

The Academy

* * *

"Once more" Sarutobi said dazedly. Maru squirmed uncomfortably while Zabuza spoke, Naruto clutching his leg tightly.

"We entered the apartment and found Naruto-san here being attacked by five civilians. They broke down his door and attacked him with various weapons. Maru flew into a berserk rage and killed them all. You are not going to punish her" Zabuza's eyes hardened. "Her rage was caused by the situation and her bloodline. You don't need to know what her bloodline is-"

"But I would like to know" the Hokage said firmly. "If the bloodline is dangerous we may have to seal it away."

"When you see it, you won't even consider the possibility, but you need to keep it secret." Zabuza snapped his fingers, "Maru-chan, show him."

"Hai!" Maru closed her eyes before she murmured, "Transmigration Eye"

Hiruzen nearly leaped out of his seat when Maru opened her eyes displaying the layered circles of the Rinnegan.

"The-the-the-" Zabuza sighed at the old man. "Yes, Hokage-sama, the Rinnegan. Don't tell the council about this, or I'll have to destroy them all to keep them from trying to 'increase the population' of the bloodline."

Sarutobi winced, he knew that the council would do exactly what Zabuza claimed and he didn't approve.

"I've got an idea!" Maru said. "Tell them that this is my ability!"

She clapped her hands together and held them out, pouring a haze of yellow Psynergy into the floor. Vines grew out of the floorboards, wrapping around Maru lightly before purple flowers bloomed from the vines. Maru smiled brightly, and one of the flowers detached from the vine and landed on the Hokage's desk as the vines sank back into the floor.

"Mokuton…" The Hokage breathed, "Incredible! How did you do that?"

"Alchemy" Maru replied, "According to the Wise One; so long as one has the proper alignment and sufficient raw materials, any alchemy can be performed. Since I have the Transmigration Eye, I can have all four alignments, but I have to gather the…proper amount of ambient energy in order to gain an alignment. Unlike jutsu, which use chakra to create or destroy matter, Alchemy doesn't take any energy as long as you have the raw materials to exchange for the Transmigration."

The Hokage stared, "No chakra at all?"

"Back to the point" Zabuza said firmly, "Naruto was attacked. I don't know about you, Hokage-sama, but I won't stand for it. You find him a guardian or I'll take him with me."

"You can't-"

"Try to stop me" Zabuza snarled. "Naruto, do you want to come with Haku, Maru, and me?"

Naruto nodded wordlessly.

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. "I have your a-rank mission; you three will stay in the village and raise Naruto. When the time comes, Zabuza, you will take a Genin Team." The Hokage tossed three headbands to Zabuza. "For now you'll all be on probation and under ANBU supervision for the next 9 months. At the end of that time, you will all officially become Shinobi of Konoha…if that is what you want."

Zabuza considered the possibility, then reached up and slashed his Kiri headband before replacing it with the Konoha one. He bowed, "Your terms are acceptable Hokage-dono."

Maru bounced on the balls of her feet, "Yay! We get to stop moving around! Hot food more than once a month!" Zabuza winced, he knew he wasn't the best cook, but she didn't have to be so blunt.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "I don't want to know."

* * *

Naruto bumped into someone on the way out, spilling him onto the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I – YOU!" Naruto gasped as he looked up into the eyes of one particular psychotic bitch.

"How're ya doing Naruto?" Mitarashi Anko smiled.

"Great" He flashed his own smile, "I got someone to take care of me!"

"Look after, not take care of" Zabuza grunted.

"Momochi Zabuza!"

Anko's eyes widened comically before she leaped at Zabuza, kunai in hand.

"Venus Transmigration: Mokuton!"

Vines sprang up from the floorboards and wrapped around Anko's arms and legs, preventing her from attacking. She looked at the girl standing next to Zabuza in shock.

"She j-just" Anko gaped.

"Maru-chan, let her down" Zabuza said wearily, "We don't have time to pick fights."

The four of them disappeared, leaving a solitary Anko staring after them in shock.

* * *

Nine Months Later

Training Ground 7

* * *

"Again!" Zabuza barked, "You're not dodging fast enough!"

Maru smiled brightly and clapped her hands together, "Venus Transmigration: Wild Growth!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes in concentration as several dozen vines exploded from the ground and speared towards him. He began dodging, ducking, and weaving through the vines, occasionally using a kunai to hack through a thinner vine that got too close.

"Good!" Zabuza said, "Haku, your turn!"

Haku clapped her hands together in her unique hand seal. Tora hand seal with the middle fingers bent back around the index fingers.

"Makyou Hyoushou!"

Naruto paled as he began darting to and fro to avoid the veritable hail of ice sent at him from the calm girl who wasn't really trying; only launching three senbon from a mirror at a time. Naruto winced as seven needles stuck in his left leg, but he ignored them. Two minutes later, Zabuza called for them to stop.

"Taijutsu spar; Naruto against Maru, myself against Haku. Fifteen minutes, GO!"

Naruto ended up fairing rather well, as Maru was disallowed from using her Bloodline. Her superior reflexes, however, were more than Naruto could handle at that point. Meanwhile, Haku had frozen Zabuza in a block of ice from the neck down.

And it only took two minutes. Zabuza banned Haku from using her bloodline as well, resulting in a rather brutal spar that left both Haku and Zabuza fairly well bruised. Meanwhile, Naruto was using everything as his disposal; rocks, dirt, tree branches, and even the odd woodland creature to stop Maru's bewildering assault. Every time she struck out, grinning wildly, her attack would strike right around Naruto's guard. What he failed to notice was Maru hesitating for a fraction of a second, allowing his block to move into place, and then striking.

_I don't want to use your new combat style yet_, Maru thought to the Wise One, _Still, I need to practice later with Haku-nee-chan._

After the taijutsu, Zabuza ran them through the standard genjutsu identification and deflection.

"Now, anything else today?" Zabuza asked. Maru raised her hand.

"I've got a new genjutsu, watch!" She clapped her hands together, "Venus Transmigration: Sakura (Cherry Blossom)" Two vines punctured the ground, rapidly growing Sakura flowers. Maru ran through three hand seals.

"Hebi, Tatsu, Tori! Koyatsui! (Mirror Flower Water)" The blossoms whirled around all of them, drenching the four in their perfume. Maru disappeared from their view, obscured by the blossoms. Zabuza sighed and punched right behind him, catching a shocked Maru in the gut.

"Too direct, it's totally obvious!" Maru grinned and dispersed into petals, much to Zabuza's surprise. He looked around wildly, noticing now the shimmer of water droplets intermixed with the sakura petals.

"The wind drowns out the sound of my approach, while the petals mask my scent, and the water's reflections conceal me from sight. It's not truly a genjutsu; it's closer to a ninjutsu." Maru explained as petals gathered to the ground and formed into legs, a torso, and finally a total replica of Maru. She clapped her hands together and burst out of the pink covering, the technique ending as she blew the rest of the water and flowers away.

"So, how long until aniki is ready to go to for the Genin exam?"

"A few months at least" Zabuza grunted. "By that time, you" he pointed to Naruto, "Will be high Chunin or Jounin level, and you two" he pointed to Maru and Haku, "Will be at least ANBU level. I want you two to join the Academy as well. Manipulate your scores to end up on different teams than each other and Naruto-san. We need to know the capabilities of as many Konoha Genin before the Chunin Examinations. Once the three of you make Chunin, we can start taking real missions."

"In the academy; Haku, you should focus on making yourself out to be skilled with weapons and moderately good with taijutsu. Maru, you will be a good taijutsu fighter and very skilled with genjutsu; make good use of that technique of yours. Naruto, you will work on Chakra control, but won't have any specific strength that you show. All of you will keep training here, and improving your skills for the exams. Until then, suppress your true strength."

"Hai Zabuza-sama!" The three children shouted in unison.

"Now; get going!" Zabuza smirked as the three "genin" departed. He raised his voice. "I know you're back there!"

* * *

Anko was so shocked by Zabuza that she fell out of the branch. He turned, raising an eyebrow.

"Wow, that's a first. I just say that to see if someone's hiding, but this is the first time anyone's reacted." She fumed explosively.

"Why you-!" Anko was cut off as Zabuza ignored her and walked away.

"Later, I just sent my protégés to the academy." Anko blocked his path.

"Tell me everything."

* * *

"You two are enrolling in the academy?" Umino Iruka asked, "Names?"

"Tensa Maru, Iruka-sensei."

"Momochi Haku, Iruka-sensei."

Zabuza's wards, Iruka thought, huh boy

"Well," He said while writing their names in his attendance roster, "Today we're doing sparring and target practice. Head outside to the practice ground."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei"

"Who are you?" A blond girl asked rather rudely, "Stay away from my Sasuke-kun!"

"Okay…" Haku said, "Would you like us to do so in that order?"

"Ah, forget her nee-chan" Maru giggled, "Let's go for our test." Both headed off to the target field.

"Today you will be attempting to hit the targets in field 7," A shifty looking Chunin proclaimed, "There are ten targets, you must hit at least six to pass. Any volunteers to go first?"

A raven haired boy just walked up to the Chunin, Maru rather thought that his hair looked like a duck's butt, and pulled out ten of his own kunai.

Leaping into the air, Uchiha Sasuke flicked his right wrist, then his left, flinging three kunai each time, and then he threw two, and then two more. The last two kunai struck kunai 7 and 8, diverting them into targets in the blind spot of the rocks on the field. All ten kunai impacted on the inner rings of the targets.

Maru watched dispassionately; she could have easily hit all of them dead-center. But that wasn't what Zabuza-sama wanted, so Maru hit the easier four about the center, and the rest in varying degrees of patheticness. Haku had no such inhibitions, and Maru knew that she'd hit them all.

"Hold on, little girl" Mizuki said as Haku reached into her robe, "The academy will supply you with kunai."

"No thanks"

"You don't need to waste your own"

"I won't waste them"

"You are expected to use the academy's kunai to complete the assignment."

"I'll use my own weapons, thanks"

Mizuki scowled, "If you refuse, you will fail the training, no exceptions!"

"Uchiha Sasuke used his own kunai, so your statement is a moot point unless you're going to show blatant favoritism. And besides, I didn't plan on using kunai," Haku pulled out two handfuls of senbon.

She gathered chakra to her legs and leaped gracefully into the field, whirling and launching senbon left and right. When she landed, everyone stared, jaws on the ground; Haku had planted five senbon in the bulls-eye of each target.

She held her hands out and jerked them back, the strings attached to her wrists pulling the senbon from their targets and back to her.

She walked back to Maru, ignoring the amazed stares of her classmates and the furious glare of one Uchiha Sasuke. "And by the way," She said off-handedly, "Your kunai are improperly balanced."

After everyone had finished with targeting, Mizuki brought them over to the sparring grounds. Each student would spar another until one gave up or was unable to continue.

"Momochi Haku verses Haruno Sakura" Mizuki commanded.

Haku smirked, then frowned and turned to Mizuki, ignoring Sakura.

"Mizuki-sensei, what are the guidelines of the spar?"

"No lethal force, no weapons, anything else goes." Mizuki stated.

"Good" Haku backhanded Sakura, who had tried to sneak up on her, without looking back. The fan girl slumped in the dirt for a few seconds, before she jumped to her feet and charging. Haku remained impassive as she bobbed and weaved, Sakura's sloppy strikes missing by wide margins. Iruka winced as Sakura began gasping for breath while Haku looked as fresh as ever. _The girl has no stamina, stupid fangirl diets._

Finally, Sakura collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath. Haku scowled and launched a side kick, pulling it half an inch from Sakura's forehead. The pink haired girl fainted, much to the instructors' disappointment.

The next few spars were uneventful; Nara Shikamaru even allowed Yamanaka Ino to knock him out without putting up any fight at all. Finally…

"Tensa Maru vs. Akimichi Chouji"

Both fighters took their places, Chouji looking uncomfortable. Maru smiled brightly.

"Don't worry about hitting me, I'm pretty sturdy, Chouji-san"

Chouji gulped, "Um, okay"

Both charged forward, and Chouji fell flat on his back when Maru caught him with an ankle sweep. He jumped back up and began punching and kicking, landing several glancing blows. Maru didn't cry out in pain, instead she smiled even more. Maru tripped the chubby boy again and leaped back, running through hand seals.

"Saru, Tatsu, Hebi, Ushi," Maru disguised her Transmigration hand clap between the seals, "Hebi, Tatsu, Tori! Ninpo: Koyatsui!" Vines erupted from the ground, shedding sakura petals that caught in a small whirlwind around Maru. After they sank back into the ground, Maru clapped her hands together again, causing the petals to spread out into a whirling dome.

Chouji blinked and Maru disappeared. He looked around wildly, trying to find his opponent and saw Maru leaping at him from the side. He dodged and planted a fist in Maru's gut, only to gasp when 'Maru' dissolved into sakura petals, reappearing in the extreme edge of his peripheral vision. Again, he attacked and again she scattered into petals.

"You're going to have trouble finding me" Maru said, her voice coming from all directions. "Sight doesn't help when it's affected by my jutsu."

Chouji scowled and whirled when he heard a footstep behind him, only to hit air. He turned and gaped when he saw a pure pink Fuuma Shuriken whirling through the air at his head level. He ducked, and the thing dissolved, dropping petals on his head. _This genjutsu feels so real…wait! Genjutsu!_

Chouji brought his hands together, "KAI!" Immediately all of the petals and Maru vanished while Maru's real body became exposed right behind him. Her eyes widened as Chouji drove his elbow into her solar plexus. Mizuki raised his hand to declare Chouji the victor. And then, to his surprise, Maru smiled.

"Not bad, but it didn't work!" Before Chouji could react, Maru burst into flower petals again, the genjutsu returning. "My Koyatsui can't be dispelled that easily, I put too much chakra into it for that."

Maru appeared in front of Chouji, leg swinging in a kick. He ducked, only to have his legs swept out from under him while 'Maru' dissolved again. Then she appeared with a knife-hand at his throat.

Mizuki rehinged his jaw from the ground, where it had been, and proclaimed Maru the victor. Said girl clapped her hands together, "Kai!" All the petals blew out in a huge gust of wind.

She smiled and held out her hand to Chouji, who shook it, and said "Thank you for letting me test out my new technique Chouji-kun."

"N-no problem" Chouji gulped, blushing slightly.

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Inuzuka Kiba"

Maru didn't even pay attention to the matches, she spent her time subtly growing a Sakura flower, stem and all, and then she picked it out of the ground. Then she grew another one. She gave the first to Naruto and suggested softly that he give it to a girl he liked. Then she promptly walked over to Chouji and handed the second flower to him with a bright, happy smile. Chouji blushed profusely when Maru offered to train with him, and accepted on the condition that she teach him some genjutsu.

Iruka watched with a smile as Haku and Maru easily worked their way into the class. He actually chuckled when a thoroughly uncomfortable Naruto hesitantly handed a cherry blossom to Haku and the older girl gave a genuine smile. He looked out into the field lazily, and then frowned as he noticed something rather strange.

The sakura petals from Maru's genjutsu were still there.

* * *

As Mizuki herded the class back into the academy, Iruka walked out into the sparring area and picked up one of the petals. A shiver ran through him when he felt the undeniable texture; it was real.

Walking back into the classroom, Iruka saw Haku staring dully at the board while Mizuki lectured. The girl seemed bored out of her mind. Maru, on the other hand, still had a bright smile on her face and was occasionally raising her hand and asking very thought-out questions.

"Mizuki-sensei! Don't genjutsu affect more than one sense at a time?"

Iruka blinked, most academy students didn't know the first thing about genjutsu until taught, yet here was this new girl spouting a question that even Sakura had never asked.

"Actually yes Maru-san; experienced genjutsu users can train themselves to target two or even three senses. Some of them even affect all five! Several ninja use genjutsu, but they are a minority in Konoha."

Sasuke snorted, "Ffeh, genjutsu are for the weak ones who can't fight their own battles."

Maru frowned for a moment before her smile returned full force.

"Now, the basic theory behind genjutsu includes…"

Haku sighed, if Maru wasn't perpetually cheerful, she'd be bored out of her mind too. Her eyes flitted back down to the cherry blossom that Naruto had given to her, and she smiled.

_He's really an okay guy._

* * *

"Hokage-sama, you have visitors"

"Thank you, please send them in." Sarutobi sighed as he signed another piece of the never-ending monster that was known as paperwork. His four guests walked in.

"Momochi-san, what can I do for you?"

"We'd like to request either a C-Rank or B-Rank mission." Zabuza stated, "Preferably one within Konoha or the surrounding area. Naruto-san will be coming with us."

The Hokage smiled and held up a scroll. On it was printed a large C.

"Escort mission" Zabuza read, "Weapon-shop owner wishes for us to intercept his caravan that is a day away and escort it into the village?" He looked up at Sarutobi, "Seriously?"

"That's all that I can offer; Naruto-kun and your students have to be back at the academy in two days. I promise you'll have an A-Rank mission ready after break starts, deal?"

"Deal, Hokage-dono" Zabuza smiled rather ferally. "Now then; GET TO WORK!"

His students jumped before they each left in their own unique way. Haku created an ice mirror, Maru used a Sakura Sunshin, and Naruto used a Chakra Sunshin, vanishing in a burst of azure chakra flames.

"Yep, they're improving alright" Zabuza smirked before he…walked out the door, leaving the Hokage to face plant on his desk.

* * *

Konoha Forest

Weapon Caravan

* * *

"And I say we move on! There's no time to wait for an escort!" A man roared, "I don't care what any of you say, not even you; Juno. We've got a schedule to keep!"

"Jinta, stand down!" Juno commanded, but it was too late; one of the wagons had detached from the caravan and plunged onward.

It didn't get fifty feet before it was attacked. Six ninja, each wearing the headband of Kiri, descended on the caravan, killing everyone aboard. Jinta had a moment to look horrified before a slim katana stabbed through his forehead.

"Heh," One of the ninja snorted, "This is just too easy, no escort at all!" They crouched, preparing to attack, when a voice growled out: "Kirikagure no Jutsu!"

Thick mist enveloped the caravan and the ninja looked around in shock.

"Who the hell?" One ninja shouted.

"Heh heh, Eight Points: Head, Heart, Spine, Lungs, Larynx, Jugular, Subclavian Artery, Liver…"

Screams of terror rang out from the Kiri ninja.

"Oh Kami! Not him!"

"The Kirikagure no Oni!"

"Get together! He can't take us all out by himself!"

Zabuza grinned from his team's hiding place.

"Good thing I'm not alone then." He whispered to his students. "Maru; take out the two on the right, Haku; the two on the left, Naruto; take the center left ninja. I'll take their Jounin leader."

"Hai, Zabuza-sensei!"

* * *

"Kenji-sensei! I see four ninja in the mist! One looks like it might be Momochi, but the others are children."

"Perfect! Spread out and kill them, then join me in taking down Momochi! We'll claim the bounty on his head!"

All six Kiri Nin leaped away, sealing their fate.

* * *

Naruto's fight

* * *

Naruto narrowed his eyes as his opponent leaped towards him, brandishing a katana. Not wasting any time, Naruto caught the sword at the hilt, reinforcing his grip with chakra. He ankle-swept the ninja, stealing his weapon, and leaped away.

"Nice sword!" Naruto smirked, "Think I'll take it!"

The Kiri ninja snarled and charged as Naruto rolled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo of the kanji for "Sword." Naruto threw up a burst of chakra, momentarily halting his foe, and shouted, "Fuin!"

The katana vanished into the seal, much to the Kiri ninja's rage.

"Give back my sword!" He shouted as Naruto went through hand seals at a blinding pace.

"Not likely! Suiton: Otokiri Enden! (Water Style: Silent Mist Dragon!)"

Nothing happened. Naruto's opponent laughed nastily.

"Nice try kid, you actually had me scared for a second! Sorry to disappoint you, but your jutsu's useless!"

He was so caught up in his glee that he never saw the soundless ethereal serpent hurtling towards him from behind. Naruto closed his eyes, not wanting to see the impact.

A bloodcurdling scream cut the air, mixed with the sound of teeth ripping into flesh.

One down.

* * *

Haku's Fight

* * *

Haku snarled as she back flipped into the air, dodging another wave of kunai and shuriken from her opponents.

_Of all my luck, I had to get the two ranged fighters._

"Nee-chan! Switch!" Haku called, executing a Kawimari with Maru and landing in front of the other ninja. One held a nodachi, and the other was wielding a spear, perfect. Haku formed her Hyoten hand seal.

"Hyoten: Makyou Hyoushou! (Ice Style: Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors!)"

Haku watched her foes' looks of confusion and fear as the panes of chakra-reinforced ice enveloped them. She drew out her senbon and slipped into a mirror.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" The nodachi-wielding ninja leaped at one of the mirrors, swinging brutally. "You can't stop me!" The blade bounced off harmlessly.

A gurgling sound from behind him made Nodachi turn around. Spear had collapsed with senbon embedded in his eyes, lungs, and heart. Blood spurted from the injuries. And it took less than two seconds.

"What?!"

Zip. A senbon flew past, slicing a tendon in his arm.

Zip. Two more hit him in the ankles, taking out his Achilles tendons. He crashed to his knees.

Zip. His other arm fell useless. The nodachi skittered away.

Zip. Haku appeared in the mirror in front of him.

"Your arrogance was your downfall. From the moment you and your comrade were trapped by my mirrors, your lives were over."

"What are you?!" Nodachi blinked.

"I'm behind you" Haku said, before launching the ninja's own sword through his heart, killing him instantly.

Haku stepped out of the mirrors and let them fall.

Three down.

* * *

Maru's fight

* * *

"Transmigration Eye" Maru intoned, letting her Rinnegan activate while keeping her eyes out of sight. She placed her hands together, "Koyatsui." Flower petals burst from the ground and whirled about the combatants, blowing the immediate mist away.

"Not a chance!" Roared one of the Kiri ninja, hurling a Fuuma shuriken at Maru, cleaving her head off. As her body collapsed, both her 'corpse' and her 'head' dispersed into flower petals and reformed ten feet to the right of her previous position.

"What the hell?" the Kiri Nin gasped, "You were dead!"

"Genjutsu!" His partner shouted, "KAI!" A blast of chakra extended seven feet from the ninja, encompassing himself and his teammate. Nothing happened.

"Sakura Enden!" Flower petals gathered into a dragon head and neck and the thing flew at the Kiri Ninja.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" The waterfall crashed into the sakura Enden, water logging it and cancelling the attack. The ninja who had used it collapsed to one knee gasping for breath.

Maru frowned as she observed her foes with her Rinnegan. The man who had used the jutsu had a Mercury Alignment that was very powerful, but his partner, oddly, had a Mars Alignment that surpassed her own. Better to kill the Mars one first, she decided.

"Condemn!" A scythe made of sakura petals formed in Sakura Bunshin Maru's hands, and she swung powerfully, creating a wind disruption that scattered the two ninja; the Mars Aligned one heading right towards Maru.

"Squall!" Lightning burst from her body as Maru's Psynergy skyrocketed. She pointed one hand at each ninja and shocked them to the ground. She focused on all of Squall's remaining energy that she had been given, and shouted, "Jupiter!"

She swiped her hand at the Mars aligned ninja and he just fell apart, wind blades tearing through his flesh like swords through wet paper.

"No!" The other ninja screamed, "I'll kill you!"

Maru watched as blue Psynergy flowed into the ninja, bolstering his strength. She replaced herself with another Sakura Bunshin and concealed herself from his sight.

The ninja gasped in wonder as unbelievable power filled his veins. "Now! Now you die!"

He threw his hand forward and a dragon made of pure water burst from the ground and tore apart the Sakura Bunshin. His face changed from confident to angry.

"You've awakened your alignment to the power of Mercury; it fills your body with the power of water. As long as water exists around you, you can use water techniques without chakra." Maru appeared with her back to him. "It's a pity I have to kill you."

"Don't mock me!" The Kiri ninja shouted, launching another water dragon at Maru's back.

She half turned, catching the dragon with one hand.

"As strong you are with your power, I am far stronger!" Maru finally tossed her hair back, revealing her eyes.

The ninja gasped and his dragon collapsed. Maru sighed sadly and walked towards him…and right past him, leaving the ninja to stand in disbelief. She crouched and drew her hands diagonally across her body.

"Watery Grave…" Maru said, tears slowly leaking down her cheeks.

All the water from the Kiri-nin's dragons coalesced into a 20-foot sphere around the ninja. Maru began clenching her hands, and the sphere contracted as well, the pressure increasing rapidly.

"…Bloody Tomb." Maru brought her hands together and the sphere contracted by another five feet. The Kiri ninja imploded, blood staining and mingling with the water.

Maru collapsed, crying. The water crashed to the ground, along with the mangled corpse. As she wept, Maru felt two pokes at her shoulders. She looked, only to cry even harder. Only now did she understand the other ninja's alignment.

Two Mars Djinn perched on her shoulders, warbling unhappily. Maru sighed and placed a hand on each of them, allowing them to rest in her body. Finally, her vision became perfectly clear, each living thing's composition easily visible in terms of each alignment.

**"Now your Rinnegan is complete"** The Wise One said, using Maru's voice, **"I have nothing left to teach you, the rest I leave to you. I will sleep again until I am needed."**

"Thanks," Maru sighed, turning her mind inward. Immediately she became aware of discord within one of the Mars Djinn. Cannon, as it was known, had realized that Maru was not its destined holder and thus, it would not fight for her. Maru gently assured Cannon that she would deliver it to the proper owner.

Five down.

* * *

Zabuza smirked as he dispelled the mist, reveling in the Mist Jounin's shock and horror. Two of his team were impaled with senbon and their own weapons.

The others could barely be identified as humans anymore.

One was totally torn apart, as though a dragon had devoured him. Another was little more than diced meat. The third was crushed, totally crushed in on itself.

"Sorry, but your team was no match for mine." Zabuza sneered, decapitating the Jounin with a flick of his wrist.

He turned to his team. "Let's finish the mission and get our pay."

Maru, Haku, and Naruto were disposing of the bodies when two Konoha Jounin showed up.

* * *

Chapter 3 END

A.N. First blood for the three. Now to clear some stuff up:

1. Zabuza is not the heartless bastard that he is in the Anime and Manga, instead he acts like that on missions and when he needs to scare people off.

2. Naruto is eleven at this point while Maru is fifteen and Haku is sixteen.

3. Maru can use Alchemy without speaking if she uses her Rinnegan, otherwise she has to name the element and spell.

4. Naruto is NOT Cannon's rightful owner, nor is Haku or Zabuza

5. Djinn list:

Maru:

Squall – Jupiter – Rank B Offensive – Maru's primary combat Djinn, refines her control of lightning

Fizz – Mercury – Rank C Medical – heals minor and moderate injuries

Granite – Venus – Rank C Barrier – blocks taijutsu and low to mid level earth ninjutsu

Flash – Mars – Rank S Barrier – weak against water jutsu, almost impenetrable to other elements

[Cannon] – Mars – Rank A Offensive – Unleashes a powerful blast of flame

Haku:

Sleet – Mercury – Rank C Offensive – Drenches opponents with super cooled water

Spritz – Mercury – Rank A Medical – Heals a wider range of injuries than Fizz

Zabuza:

Fog – Mercury – Rank C Supplemental – Allows Zabuza to keep up his Kirikagure no Jutsu indefinitely

Fever – Mars – Rank B Offensive – Rapidly raises the target's body temperature, causing disorientation

And that's all for now!

Ja ne

~Dusk Ado~


	5. Chapter 4: The Teams

A.N. Disclaimer, yadda yadda yadda. For those of you who wanted a list of the jutsu used, I apologize, I forgot to post last chapter.

Here you go:

* * *

Venus Transmigration: Koyatsui (Mirror Flower Water) A-Rank Ninjutsu-Genjutsu hybrid.

User: Tensa Maru

Required Alignments: Wind, Water, Earth

Effect: Maru creates hundreds or thousands of Sakura petals from the earth and causes them to whirl about the affected area in a dome. At the same time, she suspends water particles in the air within the dome. The water reflects light to create hallucinations and mirages to fool the foe into attacking a place where Maru is not. At the same time, Maru can create Sakura Bunshins to further confuse the enemy.

Note: As Maru does not use handsigns or chakra for this technique the Sharingan is unable to pierce the illusion or copy the technique. The Bayakugan, on the other hand is able to easily discern Maru's location from her chakra signature, rendering the technique useless.

XXXXX

Mercury Transmutation: Watery Grave, Bloody Tomb – Rank A Assassination Ninjutsu

Users: Tensa Maru, Momochi Haku, Momochi Zabuza

Required Alignments: Water

Effect: Draws surrounding water into a sphere that envelopes the caster's target, rendering them immobile. The ninja then clenches their hands into fists, causing the water to compress. The increasing water pressure eventually crushes the target while they are unable to move or even breathe.

Note: Momochi Zabuza often bypasses the gathering phase by trapping his foe in a Water Prison first

XXXXX

Suiton: Otokiri Enden (Water Style, Silent Mist Dragon) – Rank A Assassination Ninjutsu

Users: Uzumaki Naruto, Momochi Zabuza

Required Alignments: Water

Effect: After using the Kirikagure (Hidden Mist) no Jutsu, the caster will use hand seals while concealed in the mist before revealing themselves to gain the attention of their target. A dragon made purely of the mist, and therefore undetectable in the Kirikagure no Jutsu, will then strike from the opponent's blindside, killing them.

XXXXX

Sakura Bunshin no Jutsu (Cherry Blossom Clone Technique) – Rank D Support Ninjutsu

Users: Tensa Maru

Required Alignments: Water, Earth, Wind

Effect: Uses Sakura petals to create a tangible clone. The Sakura Bunshin continuously relays information and knowledge back to the caster, while the caster can control the clone from afar. The Sakura Bunshin is combat capable but, like the Kage Bunshin, will dissipate after taking a solid hit.

XXXXX

Alright, that's all for now: ON WITH THE FIC!

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

Chapter 4

The Teams

* * *

"Okay, one more time. Let's go over it one more time," Hatake Kakashi commanded, still amazed by what he had seen.

"How many times do you need to hear it?" Zabuza snarled, "We arrived on scene to find the caravan being attacked by six Kiri ninja. The caravan had already sustained four casualties by the time we could intervene."

"…And then you killed the Kiri ninja by yourself."

"No," Zabuza said, barely keeping his cool, "For the fifth time: Uzumaki Naruto took out one and Maru and Haku took out two each."

Kakashi's eye blanked for a moment and he shook his head. "Okay, one more time. Let's go over it one more-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Zabuza shouted, "Why is it so hard to believe that those three killed trained ninja."

"They're academy students!" Kakashi protested, "They're mediocre academy students!"

Zabuza sighed, "Hatake: ninja, real ninja, hide their potential. These three have trained with me for a long time: Naruto for nine months and Maru and Haku for a few years. Did you honestly think that they'd still be at academy student level? By the time the test rolls around, I expect them to be at ANBU level!"

"Impossible" Kakashi said stubbornly.

"Kage Sakura" Zabuza said plainly.

"Hai, Zabuza-sama" Maru said, from her position on Kakashi's back, a purely pink sword held to Kakashi's throat. The man's visible eye bulged.

"_That _is an assassination technique Hatake, not that ridiculous Raikiri. Assassination is based on _stealth_ and _not being detected_, not charging headlong at your enemy with a _frigging bolt of lightning_ in your hand."

"Thank you!" The other masked Jounin shouted. "I told you so, Hatake! Assassination is about stealth, not flashy attacks." Anko proclaimed triumphantly, removing her mask.

"Anko-san!" Maru called happily, vanishing and reappearing right next to the Snake Jounin. "How are your missions going? Have you gotten an S-Rank Mission yet?"

Anko promptly curled up into the fetal position with semi-visible storm clouds hovering over her head.

"No…" She whimpered, "Hokage-sama won't give me one. He said he's got an assignment for me after the academy tests are over, but that I'm not ready for an S-Rank yet."

"So, how much time do we have before the examination?" Zabuza asked Kakashi while Maru comforted Anko in the background.

"You've got three weeks for their exam, Hokage-sama decided to move it forward a month." Kakashi said, "Though I'm not sure that Naruto will pass."

Meanwhile…

"Are you going to come watch the graduation, Anko-san?" Maru asked, smiling brightly.

Anko didn't respond, she just crouched there.

"Anko-san?" Maru frowned lightly, waving a hand in front of her face.

No response.

"Crazy lady?"

Anko's eyes remained glazed over.

"Zabuza-sama! Intervention!" Maru shouted, amused.

"Huh boy," Zabuza sighed, tossing a small scroll to the girl. "Glad I listened to the old man when he taught me sealing techniques."

Maru caught the scroll, giggling, and unsealed…a box of dango. As Kakashi watched in blank shock, Maru fished out a skewer of Anko's favorite food and waved it in front of her face. Anko's eyes focused on the treat and she grabbed the skewer and box and wolfed it all down, box included, in under a minute. Maru, by this point, was giggling uncontrollably and even the normally stoic Kakashi was chuckling.

"I must say; that is a very effective way to get her attention" the Cyclops said with his U-eye smile.

"Yep," Zabuza laughed, "Figured that out three days ago when… never mind." Kakashi's eyebrow rose when he noticed the tops of Zabuza's cheeks pinken for a moment.

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku and Naruto shouted, "We're done disposing of the Kiri Ninja!"

"Did you get their identification?"

"Hai!" Naruto said, rolling up his sleeve. On his arm were six new small sealing tattoos, each bearing the kanji for "skull."

"Good, mission objective accomplished, let's get this caravan into the village!" Zabuza commanded.

* * *

Izumi and Kotetsu sighed as they caught sight of the caravan and the ninja escorting it. They had learned long ago to NEVER question or obstruct the former demon of Kirikagure, no matter the situation. So they didn't oppose him as he led a team of three academy students back into the village along with a weapons caravan.

Nor did they comment on the stench of blood that surrounded the four.

The group split up at the tower, with Haku and Zabuza heading for the Hokage's office and Maru and Naruto remaining outside. Before they had arrived, Naruto had given the skull seals to Haku and Zabuza as "keeping other people's heads stuck in my arm creeps me the heck out" as Naruto put it.

Not surprisingly, the Hokage had nearly had a heart attack when he heard the mission report and got a look at the three genin, two Chunin, and jounin heads. He easily handed over the pay stubs for a C-Rank mission, plus a hefty bonus for the 'academy students.'

Zabuza and Haku were preparing to leave when the three felt an explosion of killing intent from the ground floor. Haku created an ice mirror and literally dragged the other two down through it. The Hokage gasped when he saw the results of one foolish old man.

No fewer than four ANBU were struggling to restrain an infuriated Maru as the air around her began weighing down more and more with killing intent. A dozen civilians lay about, in various states of shock and unconsciousness. Naruto was on his knees, clutching the leg of Mitarashi Anko's pants as though it was a lifeline, eyes wide and fearful.

"D-d-demon! Y-y-y-you and your wh-h-hore will rot in the eight hell!" One of the remaining civilians gasped as Maru's smile grew incredibly nasty and the man's body started twitching. Naruto's eyes teared up as Maru glared at the man who was now spasming as electricity arced from his body. The civilian screamed in agony.

"Stop!" Naruto wailed, "Don't hurt him!" Maru looked over at Naruto in astonishment, before severing the flow of Psynergy.

"As you command" She whispered, "You are lucky" she added to the civilian, "I am not nearly as forgiving as Naruto-kun. Why he still chooses to protect you will never make sense after all you have done to him. Now get out of here…if you can."

Sarutobi motioned for the ANBU to release Maru and restrain the civilians.

Anko glared at the Hokage, "Hokage-sama, your law is killing the person you have tried to save, and as such; I hereby intend to violate it. I will inform Naruto and his guardians of his…situation back at their apartment. If you intend to stop me, do so now."

Sarutobi did nothing as the five ninja sunshined away.

* * *

Naruto stared in blank shock. "The Yondiame s-sealed the Kyuubi into me?! But then…I am-"

SMACK! Two hands struck him in unison.

Naruto looked up at Zabuza and Anko fearfully.

"Did you not hear what I said?" Anko scowled. "I said he sealed it away inside you, not turned you into it."

"Kid, if you were the Kyuubi, you'd have blown up this shithole of a village long ago for the way they treated you. Instead, you forgave them again and again, out of the kindness of your heart. I don't think any of us could have done the same thing, I know I couldn't."

Zabuza merely grunted, "She's right gaki."

Maru engulfed Naruto in a hug, trying to comfort him.

"Just because you have a demon sealed up in you, doesn't make you any different; you're still our friend."

"Th-thanks" Naruto smiled unsurely.

"Now!" Maru said, in an attempt to lighten the mood, "Time for training, see you later, nee-chan, foxy!"

Naruto eyes just followed her speechlessly.

* * *

Footsteps echoed down the shadowed alley, rushed with panic.

"There she is!" A voice called out, and the girl redoubled her pace, weaving through obstacles and under the weapons thrown at her.

_Damn!_ She thought, _They're fluctuating their chakra! Genjutsu won't work and I don't have the time or skill for anything else!_

She dashed around a corner and nearly ran into a cheerful looking, albeit confused, girl. Not able to waste any time, she cried out, "Sorry about this!" and plunged her hand into Maru's chest. The rest of her body soon followed.

Maru hadn't known what to make of the girl who had nearly knocked her over, but her normally cheerful attitude was punctuated by shock when the unknown girl literally fused into her own body.

_Sorry! Sorry!_ The girl's voice sounded in Maru's mind, _Please just help me get away! They're trying to kill me for being a 'failed experiment'!_

Maru had a second to recompose herself before two Konoha ANBU members rounded the corner, flaring chakra.

"DAMN!" One roared, "She got away!" He pointed at Maru, "You, girl; did you see a foreign ninja come this way?"

Maru shook her head regretfully, "No, sorry Anbu-san, I haven't seen any ninja except for yourself."

"You'd better leave" The other ninja said, "The ninja' dangerous, she came to kill the Hokage. It's not safe here for someone like you."

"Okay," Maru said, before using a Sakura Sunshin to escape back to her and Haku's room.

"Now then" She said softly, "Can you explain who and what you are?"

There was a gurgling sound as the other girl's body forced its way out of Maru's. She was totally naked, something Maru hadn't had the time to register before, and immediately covered herself. Maru grabbed a bathrobe and handed it to the girl first. The girl hesitated for a moment before accepting the garment and dressing herself.

"I'm Shiori" The girl said, "I've been locked up for as long as I can remember in that awful laboratory under the village. I escaped this morning when those two ninja tried to capture me and kill me. They wanted to extinguish my bloodline from existence."

"I have the ability to merge with other people and while merged can take control of their actions. Also, I can flawlessly replicate their actions with a form of autosuggestion. They wanted to make me into a spy, but I…"

"You didn't want to ruin other people's lives" Maru finished. "How does that technique work?"

"I have to mix my chakra into my target's bloodstream or have them mix theirs into mine. While I'm inside someone's body I can exchange dominance at will, something that they deemed a failure, since I would usually surrender control after entering the other person."

"And how long can you stay like that?"

"As long as the host body is alive." Shiori answered, "I'm nothing now, just something to be hunted down. I'll leave, you don't have to protect me."

Maru rolled her eyes and grabbed Shiori's hand as she stood. She spiked her chakra, drawing half the girl's arm into her body to get her to stop.

"You'll just get yourself killed out there right now." Maru said seriously, "Stay with me for now, at least until it's safe. You'll get some training as a ninja and you'll see the world around you. All I ask is that you leave me in control most of the time. I'm not making this offer lightly, but I'd sooner let you stay inside me for over ten years before leaving you to the wolves."

She smiled at Shiori, "Deal?"

The other girl just gaped. "Seriously?"

Maru nodded, "I'd be more comfortable with that than having a guy inside me," she winked as Shiori blushed dark red, "At least for a few more years."

Shiori snorted and allowed herself to phase entirely into Maru's body.

"Our test is in a few weeks, so we'll be training outside." Maru said softly, "Maybe you can pick up what I learn for yourself."

She felt Shiori's wordless agreement.

"I-I don't want to fight" Maru felt Shiori use her mouth with a desperate air.

"Deal." Maru said warmly, "Thanks Shiori"

?

"I don't like fighting either" Maru stated, "at least not to kill, sparring is fine. I'm glad you feel the same."

Shiorimaru (as I will call them when referring to both at the same time) smiled brightly once more and leaped off towards their team's personal training ground.

* * *

Day of the Exam

* * *

"Alright students!" Iruka called, "Today's test will decide whether or not you have the capabilities to become shinobi of Konoha. The first test will be written, followed by weapons accuracy, then ninjutsu proficiency, concluding with a single-elimination sparring tournament."

"First up…" Mizuki began calling up students in pairs, not necessarily in alphabetical order.

After a few pairs, Mizuki called up "Tensa Maru and Yamanaka Ino"

As the two girls walked up, Maru smiled and said, "If you do better than me, I'll tell you how to get Sasuke-san to notice you."

Ino's eyes bulged and determination poured off her in waves.

"Perfect scores, both of you." The results of the written test surprised Mizuki, as neither girl had been the best in written tests.

"Okay, time for weapons proficiency," Mizuki pointed the girls outside as he called up Nara Shikamaru and Haruno Sakura for their written exams.

Ino managed to hit her targets with picture perfect accuracy, but Iruka noticed with disappointment that the kunai were only held in by the very tips of their points. Maru, on the other hand, hit further from the center, but buried half of the blade into the targets. Iruka passed them both while warning Ino to power up her throws.

"First off; I want each of you to replace yourself with another object in the room to dodge these kunai." Iruka said, throwing a knife at each student.

Ino freaked out and replaced herself with a desk, only to find herself in front of the other kunai as Maru had replaced herself with Ino. Iruka sighed as Ino replaced herself with an eraser, but ended up panting heavily.

"Inventive" He admitted, "In pitched battle that tactic would be effective if used with an opponent. Next, the Henge no Jutsu. Disguise yourself as someone else…anyone."

Ino formed a hand seal, "HENGE!" She shouted and turned into…Iruka. The instructor blinked, almost perfect, but the scar was too wide. _Close enough._

Maru giggled and said, "Henge!" and turned into a toaster. Iruka stared as two slices of buttered toast popped out before Maru's voice sounded out again, "Henge!"

The toaster disappeared and was replaced by Naruto, in his pajamas, then by Sarutobi Hiruzen holding a quill as 'he' sat in Iruka's desk, which had been covered in paperwork. Then Maru changed into something that terrified Iruka; Morino Ibiki. The Henge was terrifying because Maru was laughing, and an Ibiki giggling like a school girl was scary…very scary.

"Stop!" Iruka said, shuddering as the horrifying apparition finally vanished. "You have the concept down, just" he shuddered again, "never, never, do that again."

Shiorimaru giggled, both reveling in the discomfort of the instructor.

"Finally, the Bunshin no Jutsu. You must each form at least five fully functional clones."

Maru raised her hand, "Can we use techniques other than standard Bunshin?"

Iruka blinked, "If you know any such jutsu, you may do so."

Ino stepped up and went through her handsigns slowly and carefully, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Six copies of Ino appeared, exactly the same as the original. She smirked at Maru, "Beat that!"

Maru ran through five hand seals in under two seconds. "Sakura no Bunshin!" An exact copy of Maru appeared next to her in a whirl of cherry blossoms and they both began a series of different hand seals.

The original Maru called out, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" creating five water-based clones out of the classroom's water fountain, while the Sakura Bunshin said, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" and created ten intangible clones. Ino felt her jaw unhinge.

Maru smiled, "Zabuza-sama taught me the Mizu Bunshin. He said it'd come in handy more than regular Bunshin."

Iruka narrowed his eyes, something was very wrong here; such techniques should consume massive amounts of chakra from even most Jounin, yet he'd felt no chakra emitted from Maru. Her control couldn't possibly be that good…nevertheless.

"Well done, finally we have the single-elimination spar. Aside from killing or serious injury, anything goes. Begin!"

Maru smiled and said, "I'll do my best!"

Ino smirked, "You're no match for me! I'll beat you without any trouble at all!"

Maru cocked her head, as if in curiosity, and suddenly the air was driven from Ino and Iruka's lungs. Maru didn't move, content to leave the fight to her 'killing intent.' Iruka, meanwhile, was absolutely floored by the KI that his student was emitting, though he suspected she was holding back to spare Ino. The Uchiha fan girl was spasming and foaming at the mouth, unable to even breath under the pressure. Just as Iruka opened his mouth to declare Maru the winner, the girl cut off her technique, letting Ino sink to her knees. Immediately, she ran over to the girl and helped her up, asking if she was okay. Ino gasped, nodded, and lashed out at Maru. The other girl burst into flower petals, revealing it to be a Sakura Bunshin. Ino's eyes narrowed in anger, and red Psynergy began gathering around her.

* * *

Maru's eyes widened as Mars Psynergy began to pour off of Ino. The poor girl probably had no clue what it was, and neither did Iruka obviously as the teacher looked ready to have a heart attack.

Ino whirled, punching at Maru, and a huge stream of flames jettisoned from her hand; a Heat Wave.

Maru leaped out of the way, hurling several kunai at Ino, who brought her arms up to block and subconsciously generated a red shield in front of her, deflecting the weapons.

"You're really good, Ino-san." Maru complimented her, "Where did you learn this?"

"I don't know!" Ino shouted, "But, I'm going to use it to beat you!"

Maru watched in amusement as Ino gathered up another Heat Wave and launched it.

"Oh…I'm afraid not!" Maru said, "Katon: Vak Corv no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Firewall Jutsu)"

Quietly, so the others couldn't hear her, Maru whispered, "Flash!"

The Mars Djinni emitted a flaming red aura that deflected the oncoming burst of flames, leaving Ino in shock.

"That's cheating!" She screeched, "I'm stronger than-"

"Spark Plasma!" Maru's eyes flashed from blue to silver in an instant, as the air shimmered.

Then it began.

BANG! BANG! BA-BANG BANGBANGBANG! Ino shrieked in terror as seven bolts of lightning exploded around her, missing her by mere inches each time. Her legs gave out, and Ino collapsed into unconsciousness. Maru gently picked the girl up and turned to her dumbfounded sensei.

"Did I pass?" She asked, giving adorable puppy eyes.

Iruka nodded blankly, too stunned to respond verbally.

Maru was just leaving when she heard a loud "SQUEEEEEEEE!" followed by Haku's enraged shout.

"A fox?! You Henged into a fox?! What idiocy went through your potato of a head?!"

"Oh jeeze!" Maru sighed, "This won't end well."

* * *

It took Maru and Haku half an hour to calm down the irate Chunin who wanted to murder Naruto for using his Henge no Jutsu to turn into a Chibi Kyuubi. Oh yes, and the fox wanted to kill him too, and not just kill him. Kyuubi wanted to maul him, maim him, turn him into paper, shred him, burn the remains, and scatter the ashes into the sky. Then he'd hire a necromancer to bring the boy back and do it again, and again, and again…

* * *

"Team Placement will begin now for all of you who have passed." Iruka began, "Team 1: Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, Emida Midori. Your Jounin Sensei is Gekkou Hayate. Team 2: Momochi Haku, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Haido. Your sensei is Uzuki Yuugao. Team 3: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba. Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team 4: Tensa Maru, Yamanaka Ino, Tobio Temujin, Akimichi Chouji. Your sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 5:…"

As Iruka continued with the team assignments, Zabuza's protégés easily scoped out their teammates.

Naruto smiled at the shy Hyuuga, causing her to blush bright red. He knew that she had to harbor feelings for him, though it had taken him a while to accept that the eldest daughter of the head of the Hyuuga clan harbored any feelings for him, the village's dirty little secret. Midori, on the other hand, he knew little about, just that the kid was the ward of their sensei and obscenely skilled with bladed weapons.

Haku personally was very pleased with her team. She'd seen the shy branch member of the Hyuuga clan working on his taijutsu and how he often worked with the equally shy Hinata. The boy worshipped the heiress of the main family. The Aburame, he was an enigma. Their entire clan and the hives of bugs that each possessed at their beck and call fascinated Haku. She had spent long afternoons watching Shino and several younger members of the clan using their insects to construct various items of furniture from high-quality trees.

Maru sighed as she looked over her own team. The Yamanaka obviously didn't like her, and that'd have to change quick if they were to be a team. Chouji, well she'd already flustered the chubby boy enough to know that he wasn't used to getting attention from girls in a positive way. _Have to remedy that too,_ Maru thought.

Then there was Tobio Temujin. The boy had been an absolute exception in the village where Naruto was concerned. Not only had he refrained from the prejudices of the village, but he had also actively healed Naruto with his jutsu after the crowds had left. That alone put him in Maru's 'good book' but the boy had also managed to, on multiple occasions, sneak the boy food and water. In her opinion, Temujin had had a vital role in Naruto-nii-san's survival.

A loud coughing fit interrupted Maru's thoughts, and she looked up to see that several of the Jounin Senseis had arrived. The man with the cough identified himself as Hayate, the woman standing next tom him was Yuugao, team 3's sensei was absent, and Yuuhi Kurenai seemed kind as well.

Maru caught the eyes of her 'brother' and 'sister' as they all departed, leaving Team 3 sitting in confusion, utterly lost without their sensei.

* * *

Team 1 Training Grounds

* * *

"Hello to *cough* you Uzumaki Naruto, and to you *cough* Hyuuga Hinata. I *cough* I am your sensei Gekkou *cough* Hayate. This is my adoptive son Emida Midori. In order to get an assessment of your skills, I would like the two of you practice some specific exercises with Midori. Once we finish with that, I'll begin teaching you the concepts of Kenjutsu. Once you have mastered the art of the sword, I will instruct you on the way of the Holy Sword, Hinata and Midori, and Naruto will learn the way of the Fallen Sword. I am sure that you understand why I aim to teach you a different style, Naruto, and it deals with your secret."

Naruto's breath constricted as Hayate's eyes hardened.

"Make no mistake, I bear you no ill will for your situation, but if it were kept secret and revealed at the wrong time, it could destroy our team. As Hokage-sama has forbidden anyone from speaking blatantly about your condition, I ask that you tell your teammates yourself, as you are immune to this law."

Naruto gulped and nodded. "Hai, Hayate-sensei" He turned to the other members of his team. "You both know the story of the Kyuubi and how the fourth Hokage killed it, right?"

He took a deep breath, "Well, that was nothing more than a lie…"

* * *

Meanwhile, while Team 1 was unaware, Yuugao had maneuvered her new team into a nearby tree to listen to Naruto speak. She did so because she knew that her own team would undoubtedly team up with Hayate's own in the future and they needed to know about the Kyuubi as well. When Naruto finally revealed his position as jailor of the mighty Kyuubi, Midori looked rather impressed, Shino seemed impassive, then again, you never knew with him. Haido and Hinata looked thunderstruck, and Haku just sighed. When Yuugao looked at her quizzically, she just responded, "He told me already."

As one, Team 2 mumbled "Sunshin no Jutsu" and descended into the field below.

To his credit, Hayate only jumped marginally when Yuugao's team appeared from nowhere. Naruto was awaiting the reaction of his teammates nervously.

Midori spoke first, "Well, damn! I knew you were something special if tousan requested you for his team, but the Kyuubi's container?! I just gained a whole new level of respect for you and a whole new level of loathing for this village." He clapped Naruto's shoulder, "I'd like you to know that I'm proud to be on your team."

"I believe that you are worth far more than the village gives you credit for." Shino said, causing several people to stare.

"H-hai, me t-too Naruto-sama" Haido stuttered, causing Naruto to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

Hinata meanwhile was stuttering far too much to even be coherent, though everyone could guess what she was trying to say. It's hard to misinterpret someone when she is currently breaking the laws of reality and forming an entirely new shade of red.

"Thanks…all of you." Naruto said.

Hayate smiled, "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's all begin training."

* * *

Team 4 Training Ground

* * *

"Alright team," Kurenai said calmly, "I would like us all to get to know each other better, so we're going to each tell the rest of the team a little about ourselves. I'll start; I am Yuuhi Kurenai, I was recently promoted to Jounin this past year. I enjoy reading, painting, and learning Genjutsu. I dislike…no, I abhor perverts, bigots and those who hold prejudices and stereotypes. My hobbies include practicing Genjutsu, cooking, and gardening. Dreams for the future…I wish to prove to the aforementioned bigots that women can be just as effective shinobi as men." She pointed to Chouji. "Next"

"Um, I'm Akimichi Chouji, I like eating, training, and watching clouds with my friend Shikamaru. I uh, dislike people that make fun of me and my clan for our size. My hobbies are eating, training, and watching clouds with my friend Shikamaru, I know I just repeated my likes. My dream is to become the head of my clan and to prove that CHUBBYS RULE!!!"

Ino gave Chouji the fish eye before introducing herself, "I'm Yamanaka Ino, I like flowers, dislike bugs, hobbies…working at my family's flower shop. Dream…used to be Sasuke-kun, but I'm not so sure anymore."

Temujin raised an eyebrow, "I go by the name of Tobio Temujin. Interests of mine include growing of various types of vegetation and the practicing of medical skills. I harbor an intense dislike for anyone who tries to thwart death and attain immortality. Actions that bring me satisfaction…hobbies, include meditating, improving my Mer-medical chakra, and conversing with several of my very close friends. I do not have any personal ambitions."

Maru glared pointedly at Temujin. "My name is Tensa Maru. My likes are my family, Chouji-kun," said boy blushed, "-and pretty flowers. My dislikes are people who insult Naruto-nii-san. My hobbies include developing my bloodline, creating new genjutsu, and practicing with Psynergy."

Temujin visibly flinched, "What did you say?"

Maru replied, "Psynergy, you know, what you were trying to avoid saying earlier when you almost said 'improving my Mercury alignment.'"

Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "Hokage-sama told me of your Mokuton bloodline, Maru-san. Could you demonstrate?"

Maru appeared to mentally debate with herself before smiling, "Actually, that's not my bloodline. This is!" Maru closed her eyes and clapped her hands together, much to Temujin's shock.

"Rinnegan: Transmigration Eye" Maru said, "It gives me control and allows me to eventually master the six realms of Psynergy; Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Sol, and Luna."

Kurenai, in stupefied disbelief, brought her hands together, "Kai!" No illusion dispelled.

Maru smiled, "I can also tell someone's alignment by simply looking at them." She glanced at her sensei. "You've got a pretty strong Venus alignment" She looked to Chouji, "You too, though not as focused as Kurenai-sensei's" She turned to Ino, "You-"

A burst of red energy leaped from Maru's body into Ino's. At the same time, Maru lost contact with Cannon as the Djinni decided upon its proper owner.

"You, Ino-san, have a Mars alignment that's surprisingly powerful. In fact, you were able to gather some of my own energy to use as your own. I can help you with that if you want."

Maru diverted her gaze to her final teammate, and was nearly blinded by the nova of Mercury energy that swirled about Temujin. She gaped openly; not only did the boy have a blinding aura of his own, but those other lights within him…

"You have NINE Mercury Djinni?!" Maru gasped, "That's not possible! To gather that much power you'd have to be…" And then it clicked; from the Wise One's memories came the name of the only Adepts who could have possibly gathered power of that magnitude. Isaac, Garet, Ivan, Mia, Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Piers; all natural-born masters of their elements and veritable magnets to the elder Djinn. And of the eight heroes who once lit the elemental lighthouses, the only one who could still be alive at this point would be…

"…Piers…" Maru breathed.

* * *

Chapter 4 END

Dun dun DUUUUUN!

So, how was that? I'm going to answer a few questions now;

First: Shiori…why? I'm really not sure, I just got a flash of inspiration and ran with it. Rest assured that Shiori won't be going and possessing anyone else anytime soon; she's still traumatized by her early life and will be clinging to Maru for support.

Second: Teams, Senseis, and New/Out of Place Characters.

Hayate: I wanted to have several of the characters to learn advanced kenjutsu, not some self-taught techniques. His expertise of sword techniques made him the perfect sensei.

Midori: Well…none of the canon characters fit the bill for the team, thus Midori was born as Hayate's foster son.

Yuugao: Much like Asuma and Kurenai, Hayate and Yuugao form another teacher x teacher relationship, only these two are very much more competent instructors than Asuma ever was.

Hyuuga Haido: Naruto and co. were going to gain a sympathy for the branch house of the Hyuuga from the start when I envisioned the fic. He's the male version of Hinata, in the branch house, and absolutely worships Hinata for her kindness to their family, regardless of status. No incest planned, perverts.

Temujin/Piers: Frankly, I put that in at the last minute. I was scanning through when I came across Temujin's image and thought of Piers. I know that their hair and eye color were reversed, but…this is a fic-so there!

Ja ne

~Dusk Ado~


	6. Chapter 5: Body and Soul

Thank you all so much for reading this fanfiction so far, I really appreciate those of you who added it to your favorite story/story alert lists. A few more reviews for the list wouldn't hurt, though (hint hint)

One thing I forgot to cover in my footnote last chapter;

Ino: I didn't like Sakura, nor do I like the fact that Ino's match was a draw. I gave Ino a Mars alignment and Cannon to give her some combat capabilities.

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

Chapter 5

Sharpen your body, strengthen your soul

* * *

"Now focus your chakra…handsign…now; all together!" Hayate commanded.

All three of his students shouted in unison, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Midori created three clones, which brought him to his knees from chakra use. Hinata created one that, although durable, consumed little of her chakra.

Naruto, on the other hand, created two half-dead clones that promptly dispersed.

"Don't hold back Naruto!" Hayate demanded, "Use a LOT of chakra!"

Naruto nodded and began gathering chakra. What everyone failed to realize was that he also drew on Kyuubi's chakra and surrounding Psynergy to bolster his strength.

"Okay, now!" Hayate said, only to go bug-eyed as Naruto's chakra intensity continued to rise, wreathing his body in blue-white and dark red power.

"I'm not ready yet!" Naruto shouted, as the air around him began to ripple and distort.

"Naruto! Just do it now!" Hayate panicked, at that high intensity, the entire village would feel the effects.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!!" Naruto roared, expending all the gathered chakra at once.

The resulting cloud of smoke obscured the entire training ground and much of the surrounding forest. Once it cleared, everyone, Naruto included, stared slack-jawed at the sheer number of clones he had created. There were at least 3000.

"Kami-sama…" Hayate whispered, clutching his heart and coughing, "That was incredible!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly as the clones began dispersing. He kept five up and funneled more chakra into them.

"Okay," Hayate said, "Now; as I said before, everything your Kage Bunshin experiences will be transferred back to you. We're going to start out with chakra control exercises. I expect you to keep up your Kage Bunshins for as long as you can and use the compounding experience to speed your growth."

Hayate pointed his finger at each of the genin briefly before he began pacing, looking like Iruka giving a lecture, coughing the whole time.

"By the end of the week, I expect you to each be able to create three fully functional clones that can last all day. Then, 'we' will begin doing D Rank missions until we have accrued enough to begin taking C Ranks and so on. During this time, I will appropriate scrolls of every subject for some of your clones to read; I want you each to be knowledgeable of a wide range of subjects."

Naruto, Hinata, and Midori nodded in unison. No time for joking around, they realized, shinobi life was serious business.

* * *

"Aw c'mon Kurenai-sensei!" Maru wailed in mock distress, "D Rank Missions are boring! Can we at least get a C Rank under our belts yet?"

Kurenai smiled, her team had actually lasted longer than she'd thought before complaining. After all, 37 D Rank Missions would wear on anyone – 10 of them had been to capture Tora the lost Cat.

"Alright" She laughed, "I'll see about us getting a C Rank Mission. I was planning on it anyway."

Maru cheered, as did Chouji and Ino. For the last month and a half, they'd been doing random chores for the village, many of them involving gardening and clearing debris. As a result, they had all grown more dexterous and physically stronger. And bored. Very, _very_ bored.

Kurenai had cornered Ino after their second mission and literally ordered her to stop with her ridiculous fan girl diet or she would kill herself. The girl had sulked, but complied and grudgingly admitted that her sensei was right about some things. Her figure had really improved, not that she was bragging or anything, okay; maybe a little.

During this time, Piers (who insisted that they all call him Temujin) had been integral with their training as well. After some initial disbelief of his age (Piers having claimed to be over 600 years old) Kurenai had allowed the Lemurian to train her and the rest of their team in the uses of Psynergy. He'd also, at Maru's request – or begging – instructed Naruto and Haku's teams as well.

The three Senseis were all proud of their teams for forging such close bonds with each other; you could always find members for any of the three teams sparring, training, and learning together.

"I'm sorry Kurenai-san, but there are no C Ranked Missions available today, Team 3 got the last one. If you would stop by tomorrow I'll be sure to keep one for your team." The Hokage informed the leader of Team 4. He blew out a plume of smoke from his pipe.

Amidst complaints from Ino and Maru, and Chouji munching on chips, Kurenai removed her team from the tower, and herded them to Training Ground 8, where the three teams usually sparred.

What they saw startled and amused them.

Midori was smirking as he effortlessly fended off both Kiba and Akamaru, Shino was dealing with Sakura, and Naruto was busy infuriating Uchiha Sasuke. Both Hinata and Haido sat on the side, carefully analyzing the fights, while Haku gave a monotonous assessment of their rival team's skills.

"Yep, that's too sloppy," She said dully, "No way that'll- and Akamaru goes down to a backhand while Forehead seems to be going into shock because of those Kikai Bugs...god she's such a fan girl. Meanwhile—"She was interrupted.

"DIE YOU FUCKING INEPT DOBE!" Roared Sasuke as he hurled a brace of shuriken at Naruto, who simply used a sunshin to evade.

"Come on, Sasuke-teme" He called out playfully, "I thought you were rookie of the year, but you can't even beat me? That's really-Whoops!" He navigated around a fireball and ducked to avoid Sasuke's follow-up kick.

"Damn! Stay *grunt* _STILL_!" Sasuke howled as he lashed out wildly. Naruto bobbed and weaved, not even bothering with other techniques.

"This is sad, Sasuke. You can't even catch me and I haven't even fought back yet!"

As Team 4 watched, Naruto vanished in a blur, before appearing back to back with Sasuke. His hands glowed with sapphire energy.

"My turn! Ice Breaker!"

Water gushed from Naruto's hands and wrapped itself around the Uchiha before freezing him from the neck down.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto" Haku said dully.

In a flicker, Kakashi, Yuugao, and Hayate appeared in the clearing. Kakashi stepped forward angrily.

"Release my student this instant!"

Yuugao's eyes narrowed, but Naruto smiled and complied. No sooner than he was free, Sasuke launched another fireball at Naruto, point blank.

A veritable wall of water collided with the technique as Temujin held out his hand.

"That will do" He said calmly, striding at the forefront of his team into the clearing. "Such underhanded tactics are befitting only of scum. Besides, Naruto-san wasn't even tapping five percent of his power at the time, so you're clearly out of your league." (1)

"Shut up!" Sasuke roared, charging Temujin, who raised an eyebrow.

A moment later, Sasuke was pinned in place by dozens of icicles that erupted from the ground. (Think Katara when she loses to the Northern Waterbending Master)

"Come," Temujin gestured to his friends, "It seems that our training ground has been claimed by others."

Naruto scowled, as did the others. "Hai Temujin-san."

As the ten genin and three jounin left, Sasuke erupted into a furious rage.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

"Thank you for arriving on time, Hayate-san, Yuugao-san, Kurenai-san. I realize that this is unprecedented, but I have decided to assign you and your teams all a joint A Rank Mission."

The jounin stared.

"An A-Rank?!" Kurenai sputtered, "What makes you believe that our teams are ready for that?"

"Because I've seen what you're all capable of, though I have been surprised a few times." He gave a weary sigh, "Really Hayate, was it necessary to teach Naruto those techniques?"

Hayate's eyes narrowed, "Hokage-sama, I believed that Naruto would be better served by the way of the Fell Sword seeing as he is able to draw on-"

Sarutobi widened his eyes in warning.

"-the Kyuubi's chakra." Hayate finished resolutely, causing the Hokage to slam his hand down on his desk in a fury. He began ranting about Hayate's flagrant disobediance of the law.

The genin all looked at the Hokage like he was insane. Sarutobi eventually realized that none of them seemed scandalized or even shocked by Hayate's statement.

Naruto spoke up flatly.

"They all know. They've known for at least a month. And, rather than despise me, they accepted the fact that I've got the strongest of the tailed demons sealed inside me."

Sarutobi shook himself before saying, "Well then, good for you Naruto. Now, as I was saying; I've decided to assign you all a Joint A-Rank mission. The mission has two parts, as several genin will be pairing up with another jounin for part of the mission. While they are doing their assignment, which I will describe later, the rest of the teams and Jounin will raid and destroy the headquarters of the mobster Gatou."

Sarutobi puffed on his pipe for a few moments before continuing.

"I have received intel on his headquarters from a spy I have placed in his ranks. He received the mission to kill the client of Team 3's C-Rank Mission. The spy is none other than-"

"Momochi Zabuza" the former Kiri missing Nin declared as he strode imperiously into the room. "I'm going to take a specific trio of genin, one from Yuugao-san and two from Kurenai-san. Haku, Maru, Temujin, I've selected you because of your superior experience" Naruto gave an exclamation of protest, "and your natural water affinities."

"What is our assignment, Zabuza-taishou?" Temujin asked.

"I'll tell you later, when we meet at Training Ground 17. NOW, MOVE OUT!" Zabuza said as he vanished in a puff of smoke.

The three genin looked to each other, nodded, and set out.

* * *

Zabuza read over the mission briefings again and chuckled. This would be fun…_really_ fun.

"Okay gakis" he smirked at the genin, "Our mission is to deliver a message to Hatake Kakashi, ordering his team to return to the village, as the scope of the mission is beyond the capabilities of his team. I have the message, but we're supposed to deliver the message in a way that leaves no uncertain terms. Hatake has been informed by messenger hawk that we-" he paused to chuckle "-are to stage an attack on the bridge builder and thoroughly beat Hatake's team down to prove to them that they are not ready. The Hokage has had enough of the arrogance that Uchiha and Haruno display."

The genin stared.

"You mean…" Temujin began, "We're _allowed_ to thrash them by order of the Hokage?"

"Hai" Zabuza grinned, "I want all of you to gear up in these uniforms and masks," He tossed a trio of hunter-nin uniforms to the genin, "Leave your Konoha ID in the village as well as any items that could be used to identify you."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed and his voice deepened, "If any of you notice either Haruno or Uchiha activate their respective bloodlines, you are to promptly neutralize them using any means necessary. The last thing we need is an over-egoed wannabe-avenger with jutsu that he's not ready for. In fact, during the battle I want you to use either your bloodlines or Psynergy only so that none of it can be copied."

"Zabuza-sensei" Temujin raised a hand, "How would the genin of Team 3 not recognize you? Surely you've been around the village before."

"Only as your standard Konoha Jounin, unarmed and not masked. Now, though, I will be Momochi Zabuza, the Kirikagure no Oni. Each of you, in turn, will use a code name during the mission to mask your identities. If you have any ideas…"

"I'll be Piers" Temujin said, drawing stares from the other two, "Haku can be Mia, and Maru can be Sheba."

"That works." Zabuza said, "Now; skill sets. I am going to require that you all use only water and ice based attacks if at all possible. We want to give the impression of an assault force from Kiri."

Temujin smirked, "As long as we work together, there's no way we can lose."

The four ninja shared grins before they each vanished to prepare.

* * *

The Next Day

Team 3

* * *

Kakashi carefully scanned the surrounding area with his single visible eye.

_They should be around us by now, but when will they attack?_ Kakashi was growing ever more edgy since they had emerged from the forest and into a clearing.

_Strange…It's almost as though this clearing is-_

The faint rustling of leaves, followed by the whisper of steel flying through the air caught the copy ninja's attention.

"Down!" He shouted, grabbing their mission client and Sasuke.

A sword, normally sized, zipped over their head and impaled itself in a tree trunk. Kakashi barely had time to shout, "JUMP!" before a zanbato whirled across the ground at the group's former head level.

Sticking in the same tree, the zanbato served as a platform for Momochi Zabuza as he landed and pulled the long sword from the tree.

"Well, well; I didn't think you'd see that coming" The ninja commented, "But I should suspect no less from Konoha's Sharingan no Kakashi!"

Kakashi ignored Sasuke's incredulous stare and stated, "Momochi Zabuza of Kiri, I trust you're here-"

"To take care of the old man" Zabuza smirked, whirling the sword lazily. Kakashi noticed the rhythmic flickering of the blade.

_Morse code? "I will draw you away so you can observe your team in action. Do not interfere."_

"Now, he's got quite a hefty price on his head. How about it; leave him to me and I'll let you go."

"Like hell!" Sasuke shouted. He drew a kunai and hurled it at Zabuza.

A streak of reflected light intercepted the weapon before it traveled a quarter of the distance.

"Sasuke, stand down! He's far beyond your level; you'd just get in the way." Kakashi leaped into the air, drawing a short sword in each hand as he engaged Zabuza in close-range combat. Both Jounin leaped off into the trees, the sound of clashing metal loud in the genin's ears.

"He's no match for Zabuza-sama" A voice drew their attention to the clearing. "And you are no match for us. Such weaklings as you should not be swimming in such deep water."

Three pale faced, blue-haired ninja, dressed in hunter-ninja garb stood in the middle of the-

-lake.

Sasuke's eyes widened as the grassy field vanished, replaced by a huge lake that spanned the entire clearing.

Before any of the Konoha Genin could even move, the trio of blue-haired ninja vanished.

Sasuke laughed, "Do you think that posturing under a genjutsu as pitiful as that would work? I'm the Uchiha! You're nothing compared to my skill! Give up now and you might live, or else I'll kill you all!"

A spear of ice flashed from the lake like a torpedo and impaled Sasuke through the heart, but the overconfident genin had seen that coming and executed a Kawimari with a nearby portion of a tree.

"Too slow!" Sasuke had half a second to dodge when the entire tree was punctured by huge stalagmites made of ice.

"Show yourself you worthless coward!" He shouted, only to have to dodge three barrages of icy spires from different directions.

"Ask and it shall be given unto you, posture – weak little child – and you shall die!" One of the ninja appeared back to back with Sasuke, twin blades made of ice held in his hands.

"Die!" Temujin struck with surgical precision, deliberately missing all vital points but creating entry and exit points. This time there was no last second save, Sasuke crumpled to the ground as Sakura screamed.

"SASUKE-KUN!!!"

* * *

Kakashi almost leaped in and killed Temujin when Sasuke was stabbed when Zabuza growled, "Relax."

"Relax?! He just killed my student!"

"He would have deserved it, abandoning the client like that. But Temujin is very skilled; his strikes missed all the vital points, merely causing a shock-induced semi-coma that will wear off after a few hours. In fact, Haku has also learned such techniques from him. Your team's not ready for missions if they're unable to even fight back intelligently."

Kakashi bristled, "They triple teamed Sasuke-"

"Exactly!" Zabuza interjected, "They worked as a team; something your team failed to do. Uchiha dismissed the talents of the Inuzuka and Haruno. Haruno's making the same mistake! Neither of them even bothered to look for henges or traps for that matter."

Kakashi could only watch as Haku copied Temujin's earlier technique and took Sakura out of the picture as well, leaving Kiba and Akamaru alone against the three.

* * *

"Any last words?" Temujin asked as he and his allies surrounded Kiba, Akamaru, and Tazuna.

"Yes" Kiba said, before smirking, "Temujin, Haku, Maru, do you really think you'll survive after killing Sasuke and Sakura? The council will execute you for sure!"

Temujin sighed, Kiba had seen through the façade. "They're not dead; we didn't hit a single vital point on their bodies. The shock of the entry and exit wounds is what caused them to pass out. I'm disappointed that only you and Akamaru-san could see through our trickery and not blindly attack like your teammates." He furrowed his brows, "Speaking of which, Haku and Maru; heal their injuries."

"Hai!"

Kiba watched as Maru and Haku withdrew small vials of pure blue water and unstopped them.

"Ply Well!" Blue light flashed from their hands, dissolving the water into a sparkling mist. They directed the mist into Sasuke and Sakura's bodies.

"They'll be fine" Temujin said, "And there'll be no need for you to protect Tazuna after today is done."

Kakashi and Zabuza appeared from the trees, the copy ninja's head cocked questioningly.

Zabuza explained, "Teams 1, 2, and 4 are currently attacking Gatou's headquarters. He's the one who wanted the bridge builder killed."

"They're attacking now?!" Kakashi asked in shock.

"Yes"

* * *

Undisclosed Location

Gatou's Headquarters

* * *

The sounds of battle, screams, and explosions echoed throughout the 'abandoned warehouse' as the trained shinobi of Konoha effectively slaughtered Gatou's thugs and minions.

"Naruto-kun! Behind you!" Hinata shouted, driving her palm into a ronin's chest. The man collapsed, a puppet with its strings cut. Naruto whirled and lashed out with his new sword. His foe grinned evilly as he parried and batted Naruto's blade aside.

"DIE!" He roared. Suddenly his eyes widened in shock and he toppled over, revealing Haido with his palm outstretched.

"Thank you Haido-san!" Naruto called, before he hurled his blade over the genin's shoulder. With a sickening squelch, Naruto's sword lodged in another goon's face and pinned him to the wall.

"Now we're even," The whiskered blond grinned.

Midori whirled and slashed, a master of deadly perfection. More than a dozen foes lay at his feet as his sword clove deep into yet another chest. Hayate's training was evident in all of his students.

"Good!" Kurenai remarked, "We're almost done here, only Gatou's main chamber now" Without looking, the jounin back fisted one of the crime lord's henchmen who had tried to sneak up on her.

"Hayate-sensei and Yuugao-sensei said that they would take care of it, they left a few minutes ago." Haido said…right before an explosion rocked the entire building.

Hayate and Yuugao both came flying out of the mob boss' room, Hayate with Gatou's head in his hand, which he sealed into a scroll.

"What in all the hells was that?!" Yuugao demanded as two more explosions nearly buckled the walls.

Hinata and Haido activated their bloodlines and scanned the area.

"Sensei!" Hinata reported, "The explosions came from out front where a red-haired woman is fighting against many of Gatou's men. She appears to be wielding a scythe made of red chakra."

"Well," Kurenai began, "While I don't know if we can trust her, the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' might be applicable here. Let us see if we can help her out."

Ino and Chouji shuddered when they saw the gleam in their sensei's eyes. She obviously held no fondness for any of Gatou's goons. The one who had tried to grope her…well his remains were scattered across three rooms.

As the ninja neared the combat location, screams and enraged snarls could be heard.

"You perverted spawn of sweat-laden kobolds!" The red haired lady shrieked as she whipped her black scythe in a brutal arc that cleaved off two of the men's heads.

"Well, she certainly has spunk" Yuugao said appreciatively as the woman carved up another goon.

Ino felt a sudden connection to the young woman that had nothing to do with any logical thought process. As one of the goons raised a sword to strike her across her back, Ino acted without thinking.

"Fiery Blast!" She screamed, incinerating the unfortunate foe in a vermillion blaze.

The woman whirled in shock, forgetting about the few remaining foes who were charging towards her. Her eyes locked onto Ino, shutting out everything else.

Ino leaped forward, ignoring the protests of her sensei, and shouted, "Supernova!"

Giant plumes of fire erupted from the air, utterly destroying the remainder of the goons.

Everyone else stared in blank shock at the total destruction that Ino had caused. The woman, though, was staring at Ino in awe.

"You, you've been touched by the power of Mars." The woman gaped before her scythe went up in flames and vanished. She walked dazedly towards the group until she was five feet away.

"My name is-"

"Look out!" Temujin's warning shout had everyone turning towards Zabuza and company, who had just arrived. Zabuza sent a kunai through a lone criminal's head, who was trying to sneak up on them.

Karst's eyes widened as she saw Temujin, "You!"

Temujin's eyes also widened, "Oh my god. Karst, is that you?"

Karst walked hesitantly over to Temujin and placed her hand to his face.

"How are you still alive? You were but a human-"

"Lemurian" Temujin interrupted softly, "I won't die for a while. But more importantly, how are you here?"

"The last thing I remember was that awful cold" Karst shivered on reflex, "before waking up here with those pigs trying to violate me. Needless to say, I killed them all."

Karst shuddered involuntarily, "I remember that horrible voice, the eye, telling me that I should seek the bearer of the eye of six circles."

Kurenai, Yuugao, and Hayate relaxed slightly as Temujin spoke to Karst. Zabuza corralled the genin as the large group prepared to return to Konoha.

"Sensei!" Temujin called out, "I request permission for Karst to accompany us back to Konoha."

Kurenai briefly considered it, "Very well, I consent."

* * *

As the group travelled, Karst found herself gravitating towards both Maru and Ino for some reason she couldn't explain. Every so often, Maru would let loose a pulse of incredibly powerful Psynergy and her eyes would momentarily glow silver. Every time Maru even caught a glance of Karst, the younger girl would rub her eyes a bit, as though blinded.

Ino…reminded her. Every time she looked at the blond girl, Karst was stricken by how much the girl reminded her of her older sister, Menardi. Everything from her long, blond hair to her no-nonsense attitude was exactly the same.

"Hey, Karst-san! So you have a Mars affinity, huh?" Maru asked cheerfully while hanging upside down from a branch that had grown over the path.

Karst jumped in surprise, she hadn't seen the girl move at all.

"Y-yes" Karst replied.

"Wow, that's great! Can you train Ino-chan and me?"

Karst blinked three times as Maru flipped back onto the ground. "Excuse me?"

"Could you help Ino-chan and me develop our Mars Psynergy?"

Karst stared at the girl in confusion, "But, I thought that you had a Mercury alignment, you couldn't use Mars Psynergy if you tried."

Maru smiled and held out her hand, in it burned a small crimson flame. Karst gaped. "How? Do you have a Mars Djinni?" Maru closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Transmigration Eye" Maru said as she revealed the ringed silver of the Rinnegan. "I can cast any of the four alignments through the use of the Rinnegan, plus the power of Luna and Sol."

Karst stared. _Karma is such a bitch…_ she thought.

"I suppose I could train you for a while" She said as Kurenai signaled the group to stop for the night.

"We'll camp out here for the night. Genin; set up camp. Hayate, Yuugao, and I will take the watch tonight in three shifts. You've all got free time until dinner."

Camp setup took less than half an hour. The genin broke apart shortly afterwards. Maru and Ino headed off into a nearby clearing with Karst. Temujin, Midori, Haku, and Naruto headed off to the river to practice Psynergy. Chouji helped Kurenai in gathering food.

Hinata was meditating when she sensed a familiar chakra source approaching.

"May I help you, Haido-nii-san?" She asked kindly, standing and turning towards the nervous boy.

"Um, w-well, I was wondering if…i-if y-you could, not that you have to, b-but I was really hoping…" The boy was so nervous that he couldn't even voice his request.

Hinata sighed, "What do you need Haido-nii-san?"

"Hinata-sama, could you please teach me?" Haido blurted out.

Hinata's eyes widened slightly, "You want me to teach you Juuken?"

Haido looked down, ashamed. "I'm sorry, you don't have to. I shouldn't have asked. You probably don't want to waste your time training a Branch Family failure…"

Hinata placed a hand on Haido's shoulder, bringing him up short. His head jerked up in shock as Hinata smiled gently.

"I'd be very glad to train you on one condition." Hinata's eyes softened, "None of this Main Branch superiority, while we're training you're my brother and I'll be your sister." Haido's pale eyes widened in shock. "Outside of our clan, nobody cares about the differences between the Main House and the Branch house."

Haido stood speechless. Hinata continued with her speech, still maintaining a smile.

"If I had my way, I'd rework the Caged Bird Seal. I would remove the torturing capability and require that all members of the clan wear it. The fact that you may be a member of the Branch Family makes you no less my family than my sister Hanabi."

"Quite a touching speech" Shino said calmly, causing the two Hyuuga to jump and Haido to scream in shock.

"Shino-san!" Haido gasped, heart pounding, "Don't DO that!"

The Aburame cocked his head slightly, "Had I been an enemy, both of your life spans would have been terminated without your knowledge of my presence."

"You couldn't just say, 'you'd have been killed if I was an enemy' could you Shino?" Naruto said, smirking wryly as he swung upside down from a tree branch. He waved energetically "Hi Hinata-chan! Listen, I've got a question for you."

"What is your question, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, instantly reverting to her shy self and poking her fingers together.

Now Naruto had thought this over long and hard, and come to the conclusion that he wanted to get to know Hyuuga Hinata better. But he didn't know how to approach her, so he settled for…

"Would you like to go out to lunch with me when we get back to Konoha?"

Hinata froze, eyes wide and glazing over, "Lunch? L-l-like a d-d-d-date?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Well, yeah. Kind of."

Hinata's mind shut down, leaving her standing immobile. Naruto looked concerned and dropped from the tree and walked over to her.

"Hinata? You alright? It's alright if you don't want to"

"I…" Hinata's eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed. Haido just managed to catch her, before gently lowering her to the ground. He managed a sheepish smile.

"I'd take that as a yes" He said to the uncomfortable blond. "Hinata-sama was probably just overwhelmed by your request."

"Great," Naruto mumbled, "She'll probably wake up thinking this was just a dream."

Shino said nothing.

* * *

At the same time

* * *

All three Senseis crouched in the trees, observing the interaction between Hinata and Haido.

"Hard to imagine those two are members of that clan of stuck up snobs" Yuugao commented.

"Hinata has never been cruel" Kurenai stated, "I've been her guardian for a few years and I've never once seen her display superiority or arrogance. She treats all the branch members like family, which infuriates her father to no end. I even saw her playing with some of the younger children of the branch family almost like a caretaker. And Haido worships her for her kind nature and the fact the she has never activated the Caged Bird seal on anyone."

Hayate smirked slightly as Naruto appeared on the tree branch. If the boy was as clueless as he thought, he'd do something that would cause her to blush, and think that she had a fever because…

His train of thought derailed when Naruto asked the shy girl out on a date.

Hinata stuttered some unheard reply.

"Well, yeah. Kind of" Naruto said sheepishly. Hinata collapsed.

"He didn't!" Kurenai gaped in absolute disbelief. "He did not just do what I think he did!"

"Why, I think he did!" Yuugao said, a wide grin forming, "Who'd have known the gaki had the guts to do that?" She and Hayate shared a delighted laugh while Kurenai looked rather shell-shocked.

As one, the jounin sunshin-ed away.

* * *

Konoha Gates

* * *

"They completed the mission" Izumi said boredly as the three genin teams approached.

"I know" Kotetsu replied.

"I couldn't believe it when they were assigned an A-Rank mission."

"I know"

Izumi frowned at the approaching group. "Hey, there's an extra person in their group."

"I know"

Izumi eyed Kotetsu oddly, "Konoha is going to be invaded by giant talking muffins."

"I know"

By now the group had arrived and passed the Chunin guards, leaving Izumi to deal with his disengaged partner.

"So" Karst said lazily, "Where're you taking me now?"

"To Hokage-dono." Hayate said, "He'll be the one to decide whether or not you can join the village as a ninja."

The tower loomed above them as the group of fifteen (10 genin, 3 jounin, Zabuza, and Karst) moved down the street that bisected the village. They'd gotten as close as one block away when it happened.

A group of two dozen civilians barricaded the way to the tower, glaring at Naruto venomously.

Temujin sighed, "Naruto, Hinata, Haido and I will handle this. Everyone else, please head for the tower using the roofs."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "You really need four of you to take care of them?"

"Just in case they have any shinobi in their midst" Temujin said evenly, "Please go now, we should be done by the time your debriefing is finished."

"Alright" Kurenai sighed, "Everyone else, let's go!"

Kurenai, Yuugao, Hayate, Zabuza, Maru, Haku, Midori, Shino, Ino, Chouji, and Karst all dispersed, while Hinata, Haido, Naruto, and Temujin remained.

"Is there a reason that you are obstructing our path?"

One of the civilians snarled, "We've had enough of that filth desecrating our slain families! We have an execution order given by a clan head! Now stand aside, or join that demon's fate."

The air temperature dropped by at least 30 degrees though Temujin remained outwardly calm. Haido and Hinata activated their Bayakugan and took up fighting stances, as did Naruto.

Temujin looked at the civilian curiously, "I'm sorry, I must have heard wrong. WHAT did you just call Naruto-san?"

The civilian scowled, "He's a goddamn demon!"

The temperature dropped again as Temujin's eyes narrowed and flashed steel gray.

"Call him demon…one more time…"

His face twisting into a sickening sneer, the civilian arrogantly shouted, "DE-"

But that was all he got out before Temujin appeared behind him.

Everyone gasped. Not only had Temujin moved faster that visibly perceptible, but he had also stabbed into and through the civilian's chest with a blade of ice.

"So you disobey the law of the Hokage and intend to divulge an S-Ranked Secret. I'm sorry, but the only possible punishment for you is…" Temujin raised his hand high into the air.

"…death!" He brought his hand down, and a dozen blades of ice flashed through the air, stabbing the man numerous times. Unlike with Team 3, Temujin didn't bother to avoid vital points.

"As you" He pointed to the other civilians, "Have sided with him, you are also guilty of conspiring to disclose an S-Ranked secret, and must pay the price."

The civilians charged as Naruto, Hinata and Haido leaped forward.

* * *

Chapter 5 END

(1) Temujin is not merely referring to Naruto's power, he judges that Naruto uses up to fourty percent of "his power" before drawing on the Kyuubi.

Sorry about the gap in updates

Not much else to comment on, review, enjoy, yadda yadda yadda.


	7. Chapter 6: Seals, and the Sun Goddess

A.N. Last chapter was…meh. I'm going to now reveal something that will shock you all…A 20,000 VOLT POWER SURGE!

No, really; I think that my current idea is gonna have some people going (O.o)

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

Chapter 6

Seals, and the Sun Goddess

* * *

Sarutobi sighed in relief as he signed the mission reward documents.

"You're sure that Gatou's regime is thoroughly destroyed?"

"Hai, Hokage-dono," Hayate said, "The mission went off without a hitch on our side."

"Same here," Zabuza said, "Has Hatake informed you of his team's pathetic defeat?"

The Hokage's eyes narrowed, "Pathetic defeat? I was told that the battle was fairly even."

Zabuza sneered, "He's lying. From the very beginning, only the Inuzuka recognized my assistants' identities. The Uchiha tried to take them all on at once, without even trying to gauge their skills. He bragged that his name alone should make them surrender. When he goaded them, Temujin used his false assassination technique and took him out. This, of course, caused Haruno to go into a rage, and Haku-chan took her down in the same manner. Hatake's team is ineffective, under trained, and totally unsuited for shinobi work as they are now."

The Hokage sighed, "As much as I agree with you, the council has overturned my decree by an 8/10 vote. All the civilians for his training and all the shinobi clans against, aside from the Haruno. The Uchiha is to be kept on the team and trained. Right now my struggles with them are frantic. It's only a matter of time before Danzo tries to have Naruto sucked into his ROOT program or executed, and Haku and Maru bred for their bloodlines."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes, "Perhaps it is time that the civilian council was replaced."

Sarutobi shook his head, "As much as I would like to dissolve them, there isn't a feasible way to do so."

Zabuza turned, "Everyone, please leave. I need to speak to Hokage-dono alone."

The genin and jounin nodded and left.

Zabuza rounded on the old man, pulling a scrap of paper from his pocket and slapping it onto the Hokage's desk. "_This_ is the method I was considering."

Sarutobi read the paper with an expression that went from shocked, to incredulous, to horrified.

"No!" He shouted, "Absolutely not! That crosses the bounds of treachery into downright treason!"

Zabuza shrugged and turned to go, "As long as it ensures the safety and prosperity of the village, _nothing_ is considered treason. Think about that, Hokage-dono."

"Get out!" Sarutobi shouted, "Get out of my office Momochi, and never offer such a solution again!"

"Hai, Hokage-dono" The jounin said, and walked out of the office. The door closed with a click.

Sarutobi looked at the paper once again, Zabuza's words echoing in his ears_, if it ensures the safety and prosperity of the village, nothing is considered treason._

Bile rose in his throat when Sarutobi realized he was actually considering the jounin's plan. He glanced at the paper once more, before igniting it with the embers from his pipe. But, the words and faces on the picture would be burned into his mind forever.

A young, blond boy in civilian clothes, smiled brightly at the camera. His small arm was wrapped around an equally blond girl's waist. She also smiled brightly, despite the object she held in her hands. Within the long, thin box lay a pair of blood-stained katana. Sarutobi shivered as he remembered the madness that burned in each of their eyes and the words written on the paper.

_The twins_

* * *

"Hey Oji-san!" Naruto shouted as he lifted the flap to Ichiraku Ramen (tell me if I spelled it wrong).

The owner of the ramen stand stared at the boy, with his bruised fists and torn jacket the boy looked like he'd been through a war.

"Naru-chan! What happened to you?" the owner's daughter, Ayame, demanded.

"Oh, nothing" The boy brushed it off, "Just a little…disagreement."

"Wow, it got that bad?!" Teuchi remarked.

"Some civilians attempted to assault him and even disclosed an S-Rank Secret in public." All heads turned towards Temujin as he and the two Hyuuga entered the ramen stand. "Fortunately, he and his friends were more than capable of dealing with that group of bigots."

Teuchi scowled, "Those damn fools just won't give up…"

"Oh!" Ayame pouted, "Don't ruin the mood! Are you guys here to eat? Can I take your order?"

"Miso Ramen for me please," Naruto said.

"Um…Pork for me" Haido said

"Miso Ramen please" Hinata said, poking her fingers together.

Temujin sighed, "Vegetable Ramen, with mushrooms, leeks, and extra carrots please."

Ayame smiled and walked away.

Naruto stared. "That's a really weird order!"

"No stranger than eating fifteen bowls in one sitting!" Temujin shot back.

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly, "True…"

A flash of darkness and hatred passed through the air.

Temujin's eyes narrowed and a hint of steel gray infiltrated the blue. His head whipped around to glare down the street.

"They're coming!" He hissed angrily.

"Who?" Naruto cocked his head as Haido and Hinata activated their Bayakugan.

"Team 3." Temujin growled, his eyes still flecked with gray. Ayame cautiously dropped the genins' orders on their table and retreated.

Almost immediately, killing intent exploded from Naruto for a moment before he got his emotions under control.

Hinata sighed, "Kiba-san and Akamaru-san are splitting away from the other two, though _they _are heading this way."

"Just perfect" Haido grumbled, "Hinata-sama, what should we do?"

Hinata sighed again, "We're not going to do anything, let's just enjoy our food."

They did so as Sasuke and Sakura walked down the street, not noticing them.

Suddenly, the temperature dropped around them. Sasuke turned to glance around himself, and saw a flash of yellow between the flaps of the ramen stand. His eyes bulged in outrage.

"So" He muttered, "The dobe thinks he has the right to live in this village peacefully, when he's really a monster. Guess it's time to do the job myself." He formed handsigns, "Katon!"

Inside, Temujin's eyes widened, and he clapped his hands together. "Suiton: Rinne Tensei…"

"Karyuu Enden!" Sasuke roared, belching a flaming serpent at Ichiraku Ramen.

"! 氷河! (Eternal Glacier!)" A huge wall of ice erupted from the ground, deflecting the technique.

"Move!" Sasuke snarled, the element of surprise lost. Sakura nodded, and the two leaped into the sky and vanished from sight.

Temujin gritted his teeth and dispelled the glacier. "That absolute BASTARD! Where does he get the gall to attack a team of shinobi in public by trying to raze a building to the ground?"

Naruto let his anger out, drenching the area in KI, though being sure to avoid directing it at anyone in the building.

"We should file a joint complaint against him." Hinata stated, "Temujin-san, your quick actions saved both our lives and the restaurant. Thank you"

Temujin accepted the thanks with a nod. "You're very welcome Hinata-san."

* * *

Uchiha District

Courtyard

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura landed, out of breath. They had traveled over half the village by mean of sunshin in order to escape detection. Sasuke seemed almost totally wiped out, but even now Sakura was standing upright. When he had recovered, Sasuke began stalking away while ranting under his breath.

Sakura glared hungrily towards the Uchiha heir, _**Now's as good a time as any! Her inner voice shouted, Do it now!**_

Sakura unconsciously rubbed her neck as she walked forward. Her eyes gleamed with the fervor of a fangirl possessed.

[A.N. Hehehehehahahaha…**MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**!]

* * *

Team Gai's Training Ground

Morning

* * *

Ricochets of metal on metal, crunches of fists and feet on training stumps, narrowed eyes and strained muscles; this is Team Gai in training…at 5:00 am…every morning.

"Soushouryu! (Rising Twin Dragons!)" Tenten shouted, spraying a variety of weapons across the training ground.

"Hakke Kaiten!" Hyuuga Neji responded, creating a whirling dome of chakra to defend himself.

Rock Lee gave a yell of excitement as he leaped and whirled. His arms and legs lashed out, turning aside weapons with blinding speed.

As the last of the weapons hit the ground, the team heard clapping. Across the field, a group of ten genin approached the field. Two were clapping excitedly.

"Wow!" Maru exclaimed, "That was some amazing agility!"

Gai appeared on the ground before them.

"GREETINGS!" He shouted, causing the genin to wince, "I am Konoha's beautiful green beast MAITO GAI! These are my genin; Tenten!" The girl smiled and waved, "Neji!" Neji crossed his arms and glared, "and Lee!" The Gai-clone smiled widely and waved his hand like crazy. Maru thought she could see heat ripples in the air.

Ino waved back while unintentionally creating short bursts of flames with her arm. The consequences of this action were enormous and would scar several of them for life.

"Hi! I'm Yamanaka Ino."

Gai and Lee's eyes widened in shock, Negi facepalmed, and Tenten looked on in horror.

_Oh kami no! Did she just-_

"YOSH! Yamanaka-san burns with the FIRES OF YOUTH like no other! I WILL INCREASE MY TRAINING UNTIL I MAY DO THE SAME!!" Lee roared, pumping his fist in the air and reducing Gai to tears.

The two embraced while a setting sun and waves appearing behind them.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!!"

"STOP IT!!" Tenten shrieked as she clamped her hands over her face, "Please stop it! My eyes are burning!"

The terrible genjutsu faded away, leaving Tenten and the other genin shuddering.

"How did they do that?" Haku demanded, her eyes stricken with fear.

Neji glared, "Nobody knows, nor have we tried to find out."

An uncomfortable silence spread across the field.

"Soooooo…" Naruto drawled, trying to break the tension, "Could we train with you?"

Gai enthusiastically agreed and divided the whole group into groups.

Hinata and Haido ended up with Neji, Naruto and Chouji with Lee, Maru with Tenten, Shino with Midori, Haku with Ino, and Temujin said that he would help supervise Ino and Haku. When Gai asked why, Temujin replied, "Let's just say this battle will be…explosive."

Gai smiled, nodded, and turned away to supervise the Hyuugas.

Hinata and Neji faced off, with Gai commanding there to be no chakra usage for Juuken strikes.

"Fate has decreed that you will be defeated, Hinata-sama" Neji sneered.

Hinata smiled, "Perhaps nii-san, but that same fate has also decreed that you and Haido-nii-san will never lose the object of your imprisonment. Something that is untrue," Internally, she thought, _I really hope that this technique works Temujin-sensei. I'm not sure of my Jupiter Psynergy yet, but I may not get another chance._

"Begin!" Gai said as he leaped back.

Neji charged, aiming an unpowered strike at Hinata's heart. Something about Hinata's words alarmed him, as he didn't know what she was referring to. He had his suspicions, though.

Hinata blocked the strike with the same palm strike, twisted, and whipped her leg around for a kick. Neji ducked, only to be struck in the shoulder by two fingers, then in the elbow. His eyes widened.

_When did she get this fast?_ He wondered as he deflected the next strike and fired half a dozen blows in rapid succession. Hinata smirked as she was hit, and vanished with a puff of smoke. Neji activated his Bayakugan in time to twitch away from a would-have-been fatal blow to the head. Hinata's hand caught Neji's headband and yanked it off. At the same time, she mentally ordered her hidden Kage Bunshins to attack while her real self sprang away.

Neji's eyes widened in surprise when three more Hinata's leaped from the trees to attack him. He smirked, "Not good enough, Hakke Kaiten!"

Hinata smiled as her plan fell into place. As soon as Neji's rotation began to slow, she rushed forward after charging her hand with Jupiter Psynergy. Neji's technique ended right in time for him to catch a powerful slap/strike to his forehead. Purple light flashed before his eyes and his forehead felt like he had been branded with hot iron.

"Bind!" Hinata cried, snapping her fingers. Another flash of purple lit up Neji's vision and he fell flat on his back. Hinata activated her own Bayakugan, desperately scanned Neji, and nearly cried with happiness when she saw the results. Around the swirling swastika of the Caged Bird Seal glowed an equilateral triangle tipped with a small circle at each point. The entire triangle glowed light purple, completely covering the seal.

_I_ _did it; I locked the Caged Bird seal! _She smiled as she held out her hand to Neji. Her cousin shrugged it off and climbed to his feet furiously.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded, noticing Hinata's smile, "What did you do to me?"

Gai looked from Hinata to Neji and gaped when he saw his student's remarked forehead. Haido was in a similar state of shock, fully grasping the implications of the move.

"With that, you can change the entire clan! Hinata-sama, who taught you that?" He gasped.

"Temujin-sensei taught me due to my Mercury alignment. He said that if I could pull off this technique that I would be one step closer to mastering the alignment." Hinata said, never losing her euphoric smile.

Neji grabbed Hinata by the collar violently, "Tell me what you did to me Hinata!"

Hinata smiled and formed a handsign that Neji dreaded, the activation for the Caged Bird seal. He saw chakra pooling around Hinata and prepared for excruciating pain…but none came. He activated his Bayakugan and, sure enough, Hinata's chakra was directed at him. His grip slackened.

Neji reeled, light headed, "What…?" Hinata's smile was full of happiness as she conjured a sphere of water out of the air and shaped it into a mirror of ice. Neji stared at his reflection, brain going into shock as he registered the modification to the seal on his forehead.

"The Caged Bird Seal is locked Nii-san" Hinata said, "I've been trying to do something about it ever since your own branding."

"Impos-impossi…ble" Neji gasped. "Why would you…" He slumped to the ground as the foundations of his beliefs and hatred came crashing down around him.

By that time, most of the sparring had calmed down, or moved away from them, so Gai had to keep them all away from the three Hyuuga to avoid traumatizing Neji.

Haido joined Hinata and Neji, and gasped in momentary pain as Hinata locked his seal as well. Then Hinata placed a hand on Neji's shoulder, causing him to jerk his head up in shock. He had a moment to look ashamed before Hinata pulled him into a hug.

Gai gave a genuine, non-blinding smile at the sight.

_Truly, she has changed him for the better._

* * *

Meanwhile

With Maru and Tenten

* * *

Both girls took stances as they prepared for their match, though Maru had to hold a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles.

Tenten narrowed her eyes, "What's so funny?"

Maru took a second to compose herself before she said, "Your hair and outfit…they sort of remind me of a panda! Hi Panda-chan!" Maru waved comically as she broke down giggling again.

Tenten felt her eye twitch, _Panda-chan?!_

Maru saw the kunai flash through the air and activated her Rinnegan, "Koyatsui!" she shouted.

Tenten moaned when she saw sakura petals whirl through the air_, gotta be a genjutsu, oh come on_.

"Kai!" She cried, bringing her hands together.

A moment later, Maru dropped from the tree branches directly above her, a pink scythe in her hands.

"Holy shit!" Tenten swore as she hurled shuriken at Maru, only to have the girl partially disperse into petals and reform. The weapons mistress leaped from the tree a moment before the sakura Bunshin carved right through it. She drew more kunai as she descended to the ground.

"Where are you?!" Tenten hissed, only to jump in shock as Maru's voice sounded out right behind her.

"Do you think an enemy would really answer that question, Panda-chan?"

Tenten stabbed a kunai towards the sound of Maru's voice, only to hear bushes rustling behind her, then a twig snapping above. Her eyes whirled, looking for Maru.

Two hands reached out of the ground and dragged her under.

Buried to her neck, Tenten could only seethe as Maru appeared in front of her, smiling cheekily.

"You're pretty good Panda-chan, but you need some work on dealing with sensory deception."

"Shut up," Tenten sulked, "I don't need to listen to you."

Maru shrugged and stomped, launching Tenten out of the ground. "Come on Panda-chan, we don't want to be the last ones done, do we?"

Grumbling, Tenten followed her.

* * *

"Chouji!" WHACK! "Look out be-" WHAM! "-hind you…"

Naruto whirled, kicking at Lee, who vanished in a flash of green and kicked Naruto in the back of the head. Chouji tried to take advantage of the situation, only to get kicked in the Solar Plexus. Lee was like a Tasmanian devil on crack with the blinding speed he displayed. Even with jutsu, neither of them had been able to strike the green-clad boy even once.

"Damn!" Naruto hissed, "How are we supposed to beat him?!"

He summoned thirty Kage Bunshin, but the green tornado plowed right through them in a few seconds.

A thought flashed through his mind, but he could barely hear it.

**Summon…nine Mars…four Mercury…**

Naruto's concentration broke for a second, and Lee planted a foot in his face. A shock of white, and the ground rushed up to meet him.

* * *

Mindscape

* * *

Water, black water dripping from the black ceiling into a four-inch puddle that covered the whole room. That constant splashing sound was going to drive him crazy.

Naruto stood before a silver-steel cage. Fifty foot tall gates isolated him from the other side of the cage, the giant doors connected by a slip of paper marked with the kanji for "seal."

"Where am I?"

**It took you long enough, young one!** A loud, clear voice rang out.

Naruto screamed.

The voice quieted slightly**, After nearly 13 years, you have finally found us. Uzumaki Naruto, the misunderstood bearer of an misunderstood power.**

Naruto's eyes widened, "Kyuubi…" He whispered, "You're Kyuubi."

**No,** Naruto could swear he sensed the voice smile wryly, **Kyuubi we may be called, but we are but one half of the great being.**

Naruto sweatdropped, "What? Why are you calling yourself 'we?' Who are you?"

Nine red lights appeared out of the darkness and floated towards the edge of the cage. Shielding his eyes, Naruto beheld nine Mars Djinn.

**We are the Kyuubi; Nine Mars Djinn chosen to be the summoners of the great Goddess of Sol. Flare, Ember, Smolder, Char, Torch, Brushfire, Scorch, Spark, and Coal are our names, and our strength is yours to command.**

Naruto reeled, this was the Kyuubi? Nine fire elementals that were chosen to be sacrifices?

"Why did you strike Konoha? You might have been able to find the others?"

One of the Djinn glowed brighter. **We did find them. The four Mercury Djinn, Shade, Current, Ebb, and Rain were in Konoha at the time, sealed in another. We attempted to reunite with them, but were stopped by those with the red eyes.**

Naruto shrugged, red eyes he knew nothing about. "Who was the other? Are they still here?"

**We don't know the name of the bearer, but if you happen to find them, you will know. We would offer you our full assistance, but the seal of the fourth prevents us from anything more than healing.**

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Can I get a promise from all of you?"

The Djinn paused, emanating confusion.

"Will you swear, on your very existences, that you will not try to intentionally harm or destroy anyone or anything in Konoha? The only exception being if I give consent…what do you say?"

**We do accept Uzumaki Naruto.** The Djinn said as one. **Why do you ask such a thing of us?**

"Swear on it first, I'll explain later." Naruto said, heart racing. If he was wrong about this, he didn't know what would go wrong. _Probably Armageddon or something._

**We, the Djinni of Mars, chosen nine of the Mars Star, hearby pledge to never harm any person or group within the village of Konoha without express permission of Uzumaki Naruto. Should we attempt to do so, our lives will be forfeit and all our powers will be passed on to Uzumaki Naruto.**

"Good!" Naruto said, as he reached up and tore off the seal from the gates.

Red energy washed over him in an unstoppable deluge.

* * *

Across the entire village, ninja stopped what they were doing, freezing on the spot. A familiar chakra, one not felt since the downfall of the Kyuubi and Namikaze Minato, crashed down upon everyone. A geyser of red erupted from one of the training grounds, reaching seventy feet high before fading away.

Sarutobi Hiruzen could hardly believe what he was feeling. The intensity of the chakra was beyond belief, undoubtedly the Kyuubi's. Such an occurrence could only mean one thing.

Minato's seal had failed.

With a heavy heart, Sarutobi called for his assistants to mobilize all available ANBU to contain the Kyuubi at its location. Then he donned his battle armor and leaped from the tower.

* * *

"Get back! All of you, I'm ordering you to GET BACK!" Gai screamed as Naruto's prone body erupted in a surge of red chakra.

None of the genin hesitated to obey. They could sense the terror in the jounin's voice.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he sat up. His whisker marks had darkened and his eyes flared crimson with slit pupils. Gai took his Goken fighting stance, hoping to hold him off for at least a few seconds, and that was being optimistic.

Naruto stood, rubbing his forehead as red chakra continued to surge from his body, whirling around him in a maelstrom. He held out his hand, studying it.

"**Wow!"** He remarked, **"They weren't kidding when they said their power was overwhelming."**

Sensing a distraction, Gai leaped into the air and plowed Naruto with a flying side kick.

He was shocked when the kick connected, launching Naruto back into a tree.

The boy gasped for breath for a moment and looked up in confusion.

"**What was that for, Gai-sensei?!"**

Gai stared in shock, no scratch that; he was totally stupefied. Naruto was emitting enough red chakra to have obliterated the entire training ground and the surrounding square kilometer, yet he still seemed to be in complete control.

"**What's wrong Gai-sensei? Do I have something on my face or something?"** Naruto asked before coming to the proper conclusion. **"Oh, right…"** He palmed himself in the face.

ANBU and Sarutobi arrived just in time to see a demonized Naruto facing Gai and…looking sheepish? Then, to their amazement, the red chakra began to draw itself back into his body.

One of the ANBU shouted, "The Demon is taking over! Take him down!"

Naruto, hearing him, rolled his eyes as the man leaped at him.

"So guys, how far does your power go?" He muttered to himself as the man bore down with his ANBU Assassin Blade "I'm in mortal danger here."

A flash of red chakra erupted from Naruto and deflected the blade. The ANBU struck again, and the chakra wrapped around Naruto, a protective shield.

"He's using the Demon's power!" The ANBU snarled, "He has to be taken down!"

Naruto sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I'm using Kyuubi's power. But it's only to protect myself from you. If you really want me to fight back," Naruto narrowed his eyes and slitted his pupils, **"By all means, continue."**

Beneath the mask, the ANBU paled. He withdrew his blade and backed off.

"Hey, Hokage-sama!" Naruto called, "If you're here, I'm sure you can see that this was a false alarm. You don't need the whole ANBU corps here."

Sighing, Sarutobi dropped to the ground along with eight ANBU. The rest, he dismissed despite their objections.

"Explain, Naruto" Sarutobi commanded, "That pulse of Kyuubi's chakra was felt around the village, with enough intensity to have broken the seal."

Naruto shrugged, "That's because I unlocked the seal." He held up his hands, "Before you go ballistic on me, the Kyuubi is actually made up of nine smaller entities. They weren't attacking the village, merely searching for something."

**Well, in all fairness** Flare grumbled, **The village was in our way.**

Naruto sweatdropped, "And one of them says that Konoha seemed to be in the way."

He gathered energy into his hand, slapped it to the ground, and muttered, "Katon no Kuchiyose." (Summoning of Flames)

Nine red arcs of energy pulled themselves from Naruto's body and resolved into the Djinn.

Sarutobi let out a moan of frustration, "Do you have any idea how much paperwork this will create?"

Naruto simply smiled, "Not entirely my problem."

Most of the nearby ninja laughed.

* * *

Training Ground 38

* * *

"Thank you all for your willing participation in this training" Hayate said to Yuugao, Kurenai, Zabuza, Anko, and an ANBU member who went by the name Kyushu. "As you all know, the Chunin Selection Exams are approaching and I intend to have our" he motioned to himself, Yuugao, and Kurenai, "students participate. I called us all here so that we may offer the genin a wide variety of techniques in order to prepare them for the exam."

Kyushu stepped forward, "The amount of training you're suggesting would put them at low jounin level by the time the exam comes. Is that your intention?!"

"Yes."

The ANBU hesitated to respond. Hayate only gave single-word answers when he would accept no arguments.

"They're not ready for that kind of training!" Kurenai exclaimed. She shuddered slightly as Hayate's eyes turned to her.

"And why not? Most genin that take the Chunin exams are not much better than they were at graduation. My philosophy is to have them more than ready to take the test, to be Chunin in body, mind, and spirit rather than just in name."

"Well said!" A voice said, making all the ninja turn. A young man with blue hair and standard jounin garb approached. He brought his hand up above his right shoulder and pulled at some unseen fabric, revealing the face beneath the disguise; Temujin.

"Do you mind if I join in with the training?" He asked, "My superior experience with Mercury Psynergy will prove invaluable for the teams, as each has at least one Mercury user."

"Perhaps," Kyushu mused, "It would be better for each of us to take a few of them in order to refine their specialties and shore up their weak points rather than drown them in new material."

"That would be most prudent," Temujin agreed, drawing stares from the others. "What? I've been around a long time; my method of speaking is just a little out of date. Does nobody say prudent anymore?"

"Well then," Hayate said, ignoring Temujin's excuses, "Does anyone have specific requests?"

* * *

Twenty days from the Exam

Training Ground 38

* * *

"From now until the start of the Chunin Exams, you will be training with a different sensei in order to develop new skills." Hayate explained to the nine genin (Temujin would be instructing.) "Haku, Midori, Chouji, you're with Temujin and Zabuza. Ino, you're with Kyushu and Kurenai. Naruto, Hinata, Maru, you'll be with Anko. Shino will be with Yuugao and me."

The genin nodded and dispersed to their senseis.

"Okay" Anko began cheerfully, "I'm Mitarashi Anko, your sensei for the next fifteen days. Welcome…" She smiled rather sadistically, "…to my boot camp!!"

* * *

Chapter 6 END

A little shorter than the last few, but I finally got my outline for this fanfic done and I have to stay on track this time.


	8. Chapter 7: Training with a Snake

I've taken some flak from my friend/unofficial beta about the whole "Hinata shouldn't be able to lock the Caged Bird Seal, it's too cliché/overpowered/etc."

All will be explained, but not now…later.

Also, I've FINALLY settled on a way to project the alchemic languages, a cosmo-cookie to the one who discovers the codes. Yes, there's more than one.

The Rinnegan Chronicles: The Price of Wisdom

Chapter 7

Training with a Snake: The Hebiken

Previously: Anko has introduced Naruto, Hinata, and Maru to her patented "Mitarashi Boot Camp"

* * *

Only five hours later Naruto, Hinata, and Maru collapsed in exhaustion. Anko had run them through seventeen different taijutsu moves, two katas, and enough physical conditioning to earn Maito Gai's respect. Now, they simply laid back and tried to regain their breath…and contemplated how sadistic their sensei was.

"Oh come on, suck it up you cupcakes!" Anko giggled, "Next we're going to get you all weights! I'll give you chakra-adjustable weights to wear…" She broke off as Maru raised her hand. "What, gaki?"

"Anko-sensei…couldn't we just use weight seals instead? Temujin-sensei said that they'd be more efficient." Anko's eyebrow jumped upward, so Maru explained. "It's a seal we paint onto our bodies and it increases the force of gravity on our bodies uniformly, rather than just where the weights are."

Anko cocked an eyebrow. "You've already got one on, don't you?"

Maru's head bobbed, "Yep, we all do! Hinata-san's at seventy-seven percent more weight and Naruto-nii-san is at…"

"One hundred twelve percent more weight." Naruto supplied, "I can adjust them easily due to the Kyuubi's help. Tomorrow I'm upping it to one hundred fifteen percent."

Anko sighed. _These kids_, "Maru? What's your percentage?"

Maru thought, "Well, I need to increase them a bit, so" Maru made a handsign, "Now I'm at…"

BOOM! The additional weight caused the ground beneath Maru to buckle and collapse into a small crater.

"Plus eighty-two percent" Maru said. "So, when do we start the next thing?"

Anko thought for a second. _Now what's the best way to torture- TRAIN! – these kids?_

"I want you all to practice the moves I showed you for an hour, then the kata. We'll work on taijutsu this week, then ninjutsu next week, and the last few days will be spent working on tandem techniques."

Anko sat down next to the genin and folded her hands.

"I won't lie to you, this style isn't easy. The Hebiken (Snake Fist) and the Hebishou (Snake Palm) are among the most difficult fighting styles to learn. The entire style revolves around attacking with exactly the opposite move that your opponent expects. If you move right, you strike left. If they think you're going to strike, you feint. The best advantages are that you can't be predicted, and that it can foil almost any bloodline."

The snake mistress sighed, "You all show some serious talent already, but to master this style would take at least five years, and we just don't have that kind of time."

"Yes we do!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "We have as much time as we need with this: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Thirty Naruto clones appeared and the original said, "If we use Kage Bunshin we can learn a month's worth of material in less than a week. We just need to keep them up."

Anko's eyes widened and she clapped her hands, "Kid, you're a genius! If you can all create enough Kage Bunshin, we just might pull this off!"

She smiled, and immediately found Naruto, his clones, and Maru surrounding her.

"What are you doing?" Anko asked in suspicion.

"Okay, who are you and what did you do with Anko-sensei?" Maru demanded.

"Wait! No, I'm Anko!" The snake jounin protested as the circle tightened.

"Liar! Anko-sensei never smiles except for that sadistic smirk!"

"I agree" Hinata said rather darkly, "Get her!"

Anko gulped as the clones closed in, before grins split their faces and they all began laughing. Anko sighed as she realized she'd been effortlessly had. This would be a long few weeks.

* * *

18 Days until the Exam

Training Ground 45

* * *

"Okay" Anko said, "Up your weights by about 3 percent, create your Kage Bunshins and get your physical conditioning underway. Ten clones on moves, five on kata, and the rest on control. We've got to keep beefing up your muscle memory and control for the days ahead!"

Maru created 29 KBs, Hinata made about 40, and Naruto…well he spawned about 200.

Anko raised an eyebrow, "Overcompensating much?" and laughed as Naruto's cheeks turned red at the innuendo.

"Shut up" Naruto growled as he dropped down and began doing pushups, Maru began doing sit-ups, and Hinata, using a tree branch, began doing pull-ups. After a little while they switched.

Anko sat back and began twirling kunai through the air as though juggling them. She would throw one into the air, then she'd throw another which would strike the first and send it higher. The third Kunai would hit the second, which would hit the first. By the time she threw the fifth kunai, the first had fallen into her hand and she repeated the motion.

"This is going to be great" she murmured to herself as she watched Maru and Hinata, now sparring, out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

13 Days until the Exam

* * *

"Snake Summoning is vital to the Hebiken" Anko lectured to the genin as their Kage Bunshins trained in the next field. By this point, all three had gained enough experience that they could begin training with their own techniques on the side.

"Being able to restrain your opponent before they know you're there. Poisoning your opponent with a flick of your wrist, death from the shadows…" Anko sighed wistfully, earning shudders from the genin.

She shook her head, bringing herself back to "normal." "Anyway, the first technique, Se'neijashu, involves summoning snakes along your arms and launching them from your sleeves. Then we'll work on the actual summoning of battle snakes, but before any of that…" Anko pulled out an ink bottle and a brush, "I'll need to tattoo the Hebi Contract on your arms. HOLD EM OUT!!"

It didn't really hurt that much, Maru decided. Even though Anko had to inject them with a lot of chakra in the pattern of the contract, the pain was minimal. They had dealt with far, far worse pain in their training.

So why did Naruto insist on making such a fuss about it?

"Goddamnit!" He howled while holding his right arm where the tattoo had been branded, "That HURT! My arm's burning like it's been broken, hit with a sledgehammer, and branded with hot iron! And before you ask, **yes** I know how that feels!"

Hinata giggled lightly, pushing her fingers together. "Ano, Naruto-kun are you alright?"

Naruto's mood changed in a flash. One moment he was lamenting over his arm, the next he appeared next to Hinata and flung an arm around her shoulders, earning a startled "Eeep!" from the shy girl.

"Ah, don't worry about it Hinata-chan, I've been through worse. Say!" His face got thoughtful, "Since sensei gave us the rest of the day off, how about we go get lunch together?"

Hinata's brain pulled the throttle several times, but her mind refused to start. She stood in front of Naruto while turning three different shades of red.

Naruto sighed as he waited. Over the past week he had tried several times to hold friendly conversations with the girl, and he grew used to the frequent pauses when Hinata would detach from the conversation and look embarrassed, horrified, and/or elated all at the same time.

Anko smirked as she watched, _such an idiot!_ She scooped a kunai from her weapons pouch and flung it at the oblivious ninja. _He's got to pay attention to his surroundings!_

Maru's eyes widened in shock and she groaned in exasperation as Naruto continued to laugh and joke, unsuspecting of the incoming threat. The Wise One's training echoed in her head and she acted.

Maru threw her hand outward, palm facing the kunai, and shouted, "Banshou - Ten'in! (Universe - Attract)"

The kunai stopped dead in mid-air before reversing its path and flying directly towards Maru's hand. She caught the metal with ease. Anko looked shocked for a moment, before covering it up with a mask of indifference.

"Nice trick kid" Anko smirked as she leaned against a tree, "But really, magnetism isn't anything special, and using it to catch kunai is a waste of chakra."

Maru smiled and held out her hand, this time pointing it at Anko. _Three…two…one…zero!_ "Banshou - Ten'in!"

Anko had a second to look unimpressed before the tree she had leaned against uprooted itself and crashed into her. Maru jumped behind another tree, and Anko, to her horror, realized that unless she moved, she'd get crushed. She performed a sunshin, since getting sandwiched by two trees didn't rank high on her "to do list." Anko swore as she got to her feet, only to see Maru smiling angelically.

"Oh, I'm _so sorry_ sensei; I must have accidentally pointed at a metal tree, so careless of me." Her expression turned serious, "It's not magnetism; it's really gravity manipulation."

Anko raised an eyebrow, "Tell me more."

* * *

5 Days until the Exam

* * *

Anko smirked as she watched her students. They had currently decided to spar against Haido, Midori, and Temujin. The match was proving to be very interesting. With only five days until the exam, the genin (who really couldn't be considered that anymore) had begun sparring to test out their strength and teamwork. It was something special to watch.

The six ninja faced off fifty meters apart in the clearing of Training Ground 17. Neither side moved, casually but carefully assessing the other team's strengths. A light wind blew leaves across Midori's field of vision, and when they passed, one of the other team had vanished.

Everyone else moved at once.

"Zekkyou Takatsume!"

Naruto descended from the sky, wielding his odachi in both hands, before slamming it into the ground, point first. Three earthen spikes launched from the ground and hurtled towards Haido.

"Katana Nankan (defense)!" Midori shouted as he intercepted the attack with his blade. Coated with chakra, Midori's katana gave no protest as he easily batted aside the stones. He smirked and charged.

Naruto met him halfway, and soon the field echoed with the clash of steel. An overhead strike from Midori was blocked before Naruto turned the blade aside and stabbed, only to have Midori twirl his blade in a traditional Makashi block and flick Naruto's attack away. Midori crouched and swung at Naruto's legs. Naruto leaped into the air and stabbed downward, only to grunt as Haido appeared from nowhere and plowed him from the air with a wheel kick.

"Se'neijashu!" Haido's eyes widened and he lashed out with his palms, cutting down the half-dozen pythons that Hinata sent his way. He pointed his right palm at Hinata and shouted his counter.

"Suigin ~ Eda Nettemat!"

A torrent of icy missiles hurtled through the air towards Hinata, who leaped out of the way. Haido, expecting that, activated his Bayakugan and thrust his other hand towards the ground where Hinata would land.

"Suigin ~ Toqasdiim!" Icicles erupted from the ground, creating a potentially fatal landing site.

"Banshou ~ Ten'in!" Maru called, plucking Hinata out of the air and setting her down beside the Rinnegan wielder.

"Suigin ~ Eda Nettemat!" Haido repeated, hurling another torrent of ice at the two kunoichi, but too late.

"Banshou ~ Gekitai! (Universe – Repulse)" Maru shouted, throwing her hands outward. A ripple distorted the air in an expanding dome around the two girls.

Horrific screeching signaled the destruction of the ice missiles as Maru's gravity technique shredded them into slush. Maru took a deep breath and shouted, "Yupiteru ~ Evd Cahgszazh!" (No, not meant to be pronounceable)

Lightning poured from Maru's hands as she aimed to incapacitate Haido.

"Ten'onaitou!"

Maru's technique fizzled out as a high-pitched keening assaulted her ears, making her double over. She glared angrily at Temujin, who she'd completely forgotten about. She _hated_ that technique of his! It only worked on her because of her Rinnegan, he'd told her so himself. She rolled on the ground in agony, hands clamped over her ears until the technique stopped.

"My turn" Temujin smiled, "Suigin ~ Avaspym Hmydeas!" (Again, probably not pronounceable)

Ice raced across the ground in a bulging wave, forcing Maru, Hinata and Naruto to take to the trees while Haido and Midori simply rode it out.

"Suigin ~ Nahydiim!" Temujin continued, "Suigin ~ Gsaaba Qsetn!"

Giant ice spikes erupted from the ground, impaling the trees that Naruto and company occupied, and spilling them to the ground, only to get caught under a huge prism barrage.

Eight flashes of blue light erupted from Temujin's body, resolving into two quartets of Mercury Djinn.

"Suigin ~ Kuchiyose – Niju Boreas!" Temujin shouted. The Djinn flickered and poured their energy back into Temujin as he called forth two of the highest level Mercury summons.

"Gyousei ~ Qijewi!" Maru shouted, hastily cancelling Temujin's attempted summon. "Banshou – Ten'in!"

With a lurch, Temujin rocketed through the air towards Maru, who caught him by the throat. Before he could even gasp in pain, Maru kneed him in the gut, then palm-struck him in the forehead, before using "Banshou – Gekitai" to launch Temujin into a tree.

Temujin growled to himself, this was definitely _not _going according to plan. He briefly considered the risks of his technique, and then threw caution to the wind. He formed a Tori handsign. _Who am I kidding, I can risk it. Besides, none of them could even hope to replicate this._

"Hijutsu: Suigin Henshin ~ Novus!" Temujin's eyes glowed and a silver disk interposed itself between his iris and pupils. The kanji "マ" (Mercury) appeared on his right forearm and began extending glowing blue tendrils outward onto his skin in wavy arcs. The result of the technique caused his power and chakra to dramatically increase. Temujin grinned, it had worked. _Now to just-_

"Gyousei ~ Qijewi!" Maru's spell caused his transformation to vanish, the powers cancelling each other out. Before Temujin could react, Naruto appeared behind him and cheerfully introduced him to the hilt of his sword. Temujin collapsed.

"Hakke Hishou!" Haido shouted as he launched a fireball at Hinata, who effortlessly batted it away, before responding with a cry of "Yupiteru ~ Jcetg Mucs!"

The retaliatory lightning left the Hyuuga on the ground, jerking and twitching erratically while Midori leaped back from Naruto. He snarled in frustration as Naruto, Hinata, and Maru approached from different directions.

Naruto grinned as he leveled his sword at Midori's throat.

"We win again…"

* * *

Later

* * *

Maru giggled to herself as she leaped through the trees of Training Ground 17. She flipped off a large branch and landed in the area's small clearing. She quickly looked around with her activated Rinnegan before speaking out to apparently nobody.

"Okay, Shiori-chan, you can come out now. The coast is clear."

Maru winced as Shiori exited her body with an unpleasant gurgling of flesh. She turned around as soon as the girl could stand on her own.

She blinked in surprise.

Shiori had lost a few inches of her height, leaving her roughly an inch shorter than Maru, and her hair had darkened to match Maru's own.

Maru stumbled and gasped as her entire range of vision destabilized for some reason. Shiori lost her balance as well, indicating that her own vision had been affected.

Maru closed her eyes, and let out another gasp as she understood the situation; her and Shiori's bodies were sharing visual perception.

She reopened her eyes and said, "Shiori, look at me!"

The girl turned, and Maru's eyes widened in shock when six-ringed silver eyes stared back at her from Shiori's face.

"Shiori! You've got Rinnegan eyes!" Maru exclaimed.

Shiori squirmed uncomfortably, "I noticed, but I'm not sure how this happened. Why are we sharing vision if we've got the same ability?"

Both girls thought about it for a moment before Maru snapped her fingers, "That could be it! Since you've been sharing my body for so long, maybe you've absorbed some of my DNA. It would explain your change in appearance and your eyes. And maybe since your Rinnegan originally belonged to me we've been linked through that!"

**[Indeed that has happened]** The Wise One rumbled.

Shiori screamed.

"Who's there?!"

Though it wasn't present, they could both clearly see the Wise One raise its eyebrow.

**[So she can hear me as well? Interesting, this situation has become very interesting. To safeguard your existence I think I shall share some of my powers with each of you. To you; Tensa Maru I shall bestow the abilities of the Tendou so that you might be able to defend yourself and your friends. To you, Shiori I shall bestow the abilities of the Chikushoudou in order to call upon various allies to fight alongside you.]**

Maru giggled to herself, "By the Tendou you mean the control of gravity? I've already learned that; so how would it help?"

**[You will have to figure that out yourself. Shiori, take your hand and place it upon these glyphs on the ground. Each one represents a summon; you may choose three right now. Maru, you may also choose one.]**

"What do you mean?" Shiori demanded, "There aren't any…glyphs??"

A circle of glyphs now surrounded the two girls as the Wise One faded away. Maru swore she heard it chuckle in amusement.

"Well then!" She clapped her hands excitedly. "Let's choose our summons!"

Shiori and Maru looked around the circle, appreciating their mutual sight as they scanned the summons. After a few minutes, Shiori finally made a decision.

"Okay! Maru-chan, I'm going to choose the summons Mizuha and Toruk for now. I'll leave my last choice for later."

"M'kay!" Maru smiled, "I think I'll choose the Hoshi summons!"

The girls placed their hands upon the proper glyph arrays and watched in fascination as matching tattoos appeared on their arms.

Maru turned to Shiori and smiled mischeviously.

"Let's see what you can do with your own Rinnegan Shiori!"

Shiori gulped when Maru started giggling uncontrollably.

* * *

Day of Chunin Exams

* * *

"Do they honestly think that they're ready for this?" Naruto asked incredulously as Team Kakashi entered the CE building. Sasuke looked every bit the arrogant, deluded avenger that he had been in the academy. The same went for Sakura and her fangirl persona.

Kiba, on the other hand, seemed downtrodden and subdued.

"Well, I think that they're going to at least make it through the first part of the exam. Kiba-san is the most ready of their team. But Sasuke and Sakura aren't ready for the exam at all."

"I agree, Hinata-san" Midori nodded. "With our skills, we could defeat them easily. And we know nearly nothing about the foreign teams."

Naruto smirked, "Yep, let's go get promoted."

"So you were just going to leave us hanging?"

Naruto gulped as Team Yuugao and Team Kurenai landed next to them.

"Um, no Haku-chan, we weren't going to do that. We just wanted-"

"To get there quicker." Temujin finished for him. "Well, that's commendable but not advisable. What if you got ambushed by examiners whose purpose was to take out the hasty teams?"

Naruto pouted.

"Anyway," Temujin smirked, "Let's go to the third floor!"

* * *

"I swear to Kami; that Uchiha is a complete dobe!" Naruto seethed. "Did he NOT understand that those people were there to stop the teams that couldn't see the genjutsu? Come on!"

Haku sighed, "Personally I'm appalled at how many of those teams were from Konoha. I think the only other teams there were two from Iwa and one from Kumo."

Hinata and Haido stiffened.

"I checked out their chakra with my eyes," Maru offered, "They didn't look weak, but their affinities weren't for Raiton Jutsu. Two were Katon and the other had Doton so I don't think that they'll have the best ninjutsu for fighting us." Her eyes flickered to silver for a moment and she blinked. "Wow, that one Iwa kunoichi has an enormous amount of chakra but no element affinity. She's a neutral!"

**[_We could use her to create a Gakidou body_]** The Wise One stated. **[_Her team didn't seem all that well liked by the other Iwa shinobi._**]

[_If you could come into contact with her, I could transfer part of myself between bodies and learn about her._] Shiori claimed.

[_I'll think about it_] Maru smiled.

Haido suddenly grinned. "Everyone, we might want to see this. Lee-san is going to beat down the moron-I mean Sasuke"

"Let's go!" Midori urged.

"That would cause an illogical distraction and waste an exhorbant amount of time that could be productively spent travelling to our destination." Shino droned in a monotone.

Everyone jumped in surprise.

Shino twitched, "You forgot I was here again."

* * *

(I really hate writing the first examination, so I'll skip it. You all know what basically happens)

The Forest of Death

* * *

"…So basically, we are to go into the forest, find a team with the other scroll, and obtain it through any means necessary?"

"Pretty much" Anko smirked, "That includes killing, by the way, so we have to have you sign these death waivers. Exchange a full set of waivers for your scroll when you're ready."

"Here you go!" Maru chirped brightly. "I picked your pocket to get them. Can we get our scroll now?"

Anko jumped as four death waivers appeared a few inches in front of her face. Meanwhile Maru continued her earlier conversation with her two other voices in her head.

[So Shiori, if you summoned one of Mizuha's offspring do you think that you could merge part of yourself with it and then direct it so that you could merge with that Iwa girl?]

[Most likely] Shiori replied, [I've actually spent the last two days in your body testing out the extent of my melding abilities. I'm able to actually separate a portion of my body and implant it inot another body and then regrow the part. If you come into contact with one of your teammates, I could inject part of myself into them and join up minds with them as well. You should try with the Mizuha first.]

[You'll want to tell them about Shiori first] The Wise One stated.

The alarm sounded and each of the 44 gates around the Forest of Death opened.

"Okay kiddies; good luck, have fun, and don't die!" Anko cackled. "GO! GO! GO!"

Each genin team vanished in a flurry of movement.

* * *

Team Kurenai had traveled less than half a mile when Maru brought them to a halt. Ino and Chouji seemed annoyed by the wait.

"Why are we stopping?!" Ino shrieked, "We've got to get our other scroll!"

"Calm down" Temujin reasoned, "We've got all day…and four more. What did you want to say Maru-chan?"

Maru smiled nervously. "Well, for the last month or so you've all been speaking to not only me, but to another person who also lives inside me."

Temujin's eyes bulged.

"You mean you're pregnant?!"

Maru blushed and giggled.

"No! What I mean is- oh let me just show you. Shiori, come on out!"

Ino, Chouji, and Temujin watched in stark amazement as Shiori climbed out of Maru's back. Though her eyes remained closed, she turned to the group and smiled shyly.

"H-hello" She said, "I'm Shiori, one of Orochimaru's failed experiments."

Temujin rubbed his eyes. "Why do I get the feeling of an impending migrane?"

After the awkward introduction, Maru had Shiori open her eyes and display the Rinnegan, giving Temujin a near heart attack. Surprisingly though for Maru and Shiori…

"Well, I'm fine with you being in our team, we'll just have to hunt for some more food" Chouji said easily. "You seem decent enough-"

"Decent?!" Ino ranted, "Decent?! Just look at her hair! When we get to the tower I'm giving you both an extensive makeover!" Shiori and Maru sweatdropped. What the hell was with her and makeovers?

"Um…"

Ino snapped back to reality and looked sheepish. "Right, sorry. I don't have a problem with you. Welcome to the team!"

Shiori smiled.

"Thanks. I really-"

An explosion rocked the forest and a fireball rose in the distance. Wordlessly, an agreement was reached by the group. They leaped off as one in the direction of the explosion.

Five minutes later they came upon Team Hayate in the middle of a brawl. They and three Iwa ninja had banded together against no less than five different elder Konoha genin teams.

The two male Iwa shinobi wielded large swords, smaller than Zanbatou but larger than oodachi, with brutal efficiency. Their wide sweeps kept kunai, shuriken, and the occasional fist/foot at bay while the Kunoichi held her hands together in a strange handsign. Maru and Shiori noticed various elements of chakra swirling around the kunoichi but not coalescing for some reason.

Naruto leaped backwards to avoid an exploding kunai, then ducked under a fuma shuriken. He thrust out his hand and shouted, "Marusu Youki no Yaiba!"

A column of swirling red energy engulfed his forearm and he angrily cut down the offending weapon ninja. His teammates stared in horror.

"The demon's breaking free! Kill him!"

As one, the Konoha elder ninja leaped at Naruto.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" Maru replaced Naruto in a puff of smoke. She grinned fiercely and thrust out her hands towards the ninja.

"Banshou – Gekitai!"

"What the hell?!" Several ninja shouted as they were thrown back as though hit by a Fuuton: Daiatoppa.

Midori descended upon them, wielding his sword with deadly precision and carving gashes across an entire team of foes.

"Caim!" The shorter Iwa shinobi shouted, "Use it now!"

The other Iwa nin cast back his grizzled hair and swept his sword in a blinding arc.

Flames engulfed the battlefield…

* * *

A.N. I know, sucky ending for the chapter, but I had to figure out what to write next, and I need some more time.

Zekkyou Takatsume! (Screaming Hawk Talon)

Banshou Aitou! (Voice of Heaven's Lament!)

Ryuutsume! (Dragon Talon)

Hakke Hishou! (Eight Trigrams Flame Palm)

Ten'onaitou! (Lament of Heaven)

Suigin ~ Kuchiyose – Niju Boreas! (Mercury ~ Summoning – Double Boreas!)


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